The Path to Love
by supernaturaldixon
Summary: Maddison Grey leaves her home in Virginia to become a detective in New York's Special Victim's Unit. She was on the fast track to join the BAU when she decided to take a different route. What will life in New York hold for Maddison? Will the past of her families life haunt her as she tries to build her own, or will her partner at the precinct love her for everything she is.
1. Chapter 1: Starting New

"Hello?" I call out into the huddled crowd of the Special Victims Unit. Everyone has their eyes trained on the television screen and computer monitors. They have a map of the world with little red dots scattered all across it. No doubt this is a sting of some kind, but I just am not sure what kind. "Is there a Lieutenant Murphy I can talk to?" I call out louder to get someone's attention.

"Can I help you?" An older man with a white beard approaches me, clearly wanting to put his attention back on the screen.

"I'm Maddison Grey, I'm your new transfer." I offer out my hand for him to take.

He looks down at it but doesn't accept. Instead pulling me by the arm towards all the people "nice to meet you Addison, we could use a few more hands here today" and he throws me right into work. As we approach the team working on the investigation he commands out loud "It's been 30 minutes. What's the score so far?"

A blonde on a computer responds "just under 800 responses."

"Heavy in the Eastern Bloc, China, and the American South." A man in a suit says, turning to face everyone.

Another man adds on "no comment."

Lieutenant Murphy tells everyone "turn those IPs over to the FBI and interpol." He then speaks a bit louder "Everyone, this is detective Madison Grey, she's joining us fresh out of the FBI academy. Welcome her when the time is right. For now, let's keep going. Any in our backyard Amaro?" He asks one of the people on the computers.

"Four in Brooklyn, three in Queens." He comments back after a second of typing. He's a handsome man, Latino I think.

"Any in Manhattan?" I jump in and ask, ready to prove myself.

Lietenent Murphy looks over at me, forming a small grin but then turns back to the computer screen "one confirmed so far. Municipal IP address, calls himself Flash."

Another women comes to the side of Lieutenant Murphy "that must be the guy who told Lucy that he wanted to meet her in Bangkok and bring her to New York."

"Is he still at work?" Murphy asks.

The man on from the computer, I believe Declan called him Amaro answers quickly "Yeah."

He nods and gives a command "Fin, Amaro, go pick him up."

The two men at the computers leave. The women who was next to Murphy comes over to me, opening her free hand to shake mine "I'm detective Olivia Benson. Welcome to SVU!" She smiles politely to me and I take her hand. "This is Amanda Rollins.' She looks to her side to introduce the blonde to me.

"Hi. I'm Maddison, nice to meet you both!" I shake the other women's hand as well with a smile on my face.

"So, you were on your way to join the FBI, what made you change gears?" Amanda asks me, standing up from the chair.

"You deal with a lot more than just special victims there. My father was a part of the behavior analysis unit, I've seen what the job can do to people. I want to save people, get criminals and creeps off the street but I want to have a life too, yanno?" I explain.

"Yea, good luck with that here." Amanda says but quickly changes the subject "let me show you to your desk." She walks me a few feet away to an empty desk with just a phone, computer, and chair at it "have at it." She opens her arms towards it and I place my bag down on the chair. I didn't bring much with me but unpacked the few things I did that were in my bag. Afterwards, I get logged into the system and prepare for a good first day on the job? Already excited to have been welcomed in on this case.

"Grey!" Murphy calls out into the pit of people. "I want you in on the interview with Montlieff!" He finishes saying as he reaches me.

"Alright," I say back trying to hide how nervous I was.

"Are you sure about this Declan? I think she should watch from the window, see how we do things." Olivia tries to say quietly to him.

Declan shakes his head "I want her in there. Let's go, there waiting for you." He directs and I quickly hustle behind him to the interrogation room.

"This doesn't look good Gordo." The man I shortly met, Finn, starts off the interview sitting besides him. Amanda sits across and I stand against the wall by the window.

The sweaty man spits back in a stutter "th-that girl and I were just talking."

"About sex, with a 14-year-old." I comment with an eye-roll for emphasis.

"She is not 14!" He argues to us all, badly.

"That doesn't matter. You thought she was." She says to him next, letting him know we don't care what he says.

"Wait, so I'm arrested for thinking?" He spits back, doing his best to talk his way out of this.

"We have you on chat talking about what you would like to do this girl, the jury will see her and believe she is 14. Even if you claim you don't, you're done for." I explain to him what we have, catching on to how scared he is.

"Flash, we know that you talked to your friends in chat rooms, on websites." Amanda goes on, Finn allowing her to take the lead and be the quiet one in the interrogation. "Now, did you ever take the next step? Did you ever meet them?"

"Some of those guys, they're sick. If I turn them in, they'll come after me." He says with a shaky voice.

"As if the inmates aren't gonna come after a pedophile like you in prison." Finn drops the hammer on him and he sighs in disbelief.

"Fine, I have some names in a file on my computer.

"Just some names?" Rollins asks him.

He puts his head in between his head "you have some paper?" He asks.

Rollins looks to Finn who looks to her and then they both look to me. I pull out the pad of paper I'm carrying and toss it onto the table in front of him "here!" I say out loud as it hits with a clang.

"He mentioned some friends, but it's all pretty vague." Finn says once out of the box and in the Lieutenant's office.

I add on "still fighting the hook."

Murphy returns to us "If he was done, he would've lawyered up. Let him stew in holding for a while."

"He doesn't strike me as the reflective type." Benson comments to him.

"Maybe he needs a shoulder to cry on?" I offer the idea.

Murphy eyes me "what do you have in mind?"

"Go undercover in the holding cell." I offer quickly.

He shares a glance with detective Benson and turns back to me with a nod "let's do it."


	2. Chapter 2: Undercover Job

"Ready to get your hands dirty?" Murphy comes over to me later that next day.

I eye him standing up from my desk. I felt good when my lieutenant took my idea of him going under cover in the cell the get more or of flash, so of course I was eager to see what today held. "What do you have in mind?"

"Undercover. You''ll be my wife, Mrs. Jeffries."

"Let's do it." I say the same words he said the night before "what are we going after?" I ask.

He and Olivia explain to the rest of us how we are going to go undercover to go after a man who claims his viscous awful writings of murdering a child are just fantasy. The man has an art gallery tonight in Manhattan, we need to move fast to make sure we get him before another boy is hurt. I get dolled up in a white dress and put my hair into a slick ponytail. We get wired and head off into the gallery. We walk the pictures, all black and white, all of little children. We see the women close near us so we begin to play our parts further "Oh, honey, I love this one. This is my favorite in the whole show." I ooze to him, like I've never seen anything so gorgeous before.

"It is striking." A women comes over to us.

"Is this your gallery?" My fake husband asks her.

"No, the photographer's my husband." She smiles back.

He puts on a shocked face, "you're married to Simon Wilkes? Is he here? I'd love to meet him."

"Oh, that's great. He's right over there." She points to her husband, about ready to move over towards him to introduce us.

Declan gives me a little squeeze so I ask the wife "you know what, do you have a catalog I can look at?" I ask her, wanting to let them be left alone.

I raise my eyebrows with a big smile towards my fake husband and he tells me "whatever you want, baby, just get a price."

"This way." His wife takes me to the side and Declan moves towards Simon, I spend the rest of the evening talking with his wife about photography that is over rated and over priced.

The next day Declan plays the recording he got of him and Simon in the bar talking about a plan to the ADA Barba "that's it?" He asks once it's over "sounds to me like you're flirting with entrapment." Barba turns his attention to Murphy "you brought up procuring a boy."

"He didn't shy away." Murphy reminds him. "He was the one that brought up using boys for more than just sex." Murphy turns to me "did you get anywhere with the wife?"

I shake my head "big blind spot, she adores him."

"She's a sicko too." Finns chimes in.

"Tell me that at least Wilkes has a record?" Barba asks.

"He stays under the radar." Olivia tells him.

"Except when he chats about boys in the school yard he wants to torture." Amaro adds on.

"We do not indict people for just imagining things." Barba reminds everyone in front of him. " Show me a substantial step, we'll have a different conversation." He goes to walk away but stops before he turns fully "Nice to meet you Ms. Grey, I've met your father, brilliant man." He gives me a firm head nod then leaves the room.

"Lawyers think too much." Murphy says once he's gone. "This Wilkes is bad news. Go back to Gordon. Get us something more."

Later that night I get a text with an address from Benson. I take a taxi over there and am met with multiple cop cars lit up and officers and detective moving in and out of the building. I flash my badge to the man at the door and quickly meet everyone inside. "What the hell is this place?" I ask once through a regular looking room and then in a makeshift torture chamber like one.

"Pull up the floors. Knock out the walls." Murphy directs the men and women collecting evidence.

"This place is pristine." I say followed by a whistle.

Amanda asks "He brought boys here?"

Murphy explains "so he scrubbed it clean. He's careful."

Amanda asks, leaning down resting on her knee's over a drain "so what does he do with the bodies?"

"Open up the drains and test for chemicals." Murphy makes another demand. "I want a drop of blood, a shard of bone, something, anything."

"Lieutenant, counselor, detectives" Finn calls out to all of us "CSU found these hiding behind a fake wall."

Armaro mumbles under his breathe "sick son of a bitch."

Murphy "Benson, Rollins, get back to the station and interview Simon! I want him sweating!" He tells them and Rollins quickly exits the room behind Benson to get moving on the interrogation. "Finn and Grey, stay here and wait for CSU to finish, then follow them to the lab and wait for the results. I want to be called the instant they are in."

"Got it." I say back, putting gloves on my hand to help look around for evidence.

It takes hours for the different teams to collect everything they needed. Finn and I try to stay out of the way and talk through different scenarios of way he could have gotten away with it for so long or how many possible victims there could have been. "Finn, we're done here. We'll be heading back to the lab now." A women in a big navy jacket tells him and Nick nods to her, turning back to me "let's go." He says and I follow him into the street. The sky is still dark, filled with clouds and I get into the passenger side of the black car as he drives behind the van to the lab.

"Gonna take a few days to get the evidence back." Finn calls Murphy to tell him what the women from the lab said once we are inside. "Yea, sure. You got it." He says to the other side and hangs up.

"He always so chatty?" I ask, clearly understanding how frustrated Declan must be about this situation.

"He's a tough guy, catches a lot of bad dudes. This guy is sick, it's tough seeing these people get away with it." He tells me.

We get into the car and as he pulls off towards the station I ask him "does it happen a lot, people getting away with this stuff?" He eyes me as if I that's a weird a question to ask. I shrug and explain to him "my dad's in the FBI. There's only been a few cases he's been on that they've haven't been able to catch and put away."

"There's a few here and there. Some worse then others." He explains with few words. We don't say anything more as we drive to the station. When we get there we are informed that Simon had retained a lawyer and we can no longer talk to him without her there. The next day goes by an arraignment hearing is set up for the next morning. He is charged with attempting kidnapping and attempted sexual abuse of a child. "As soon as I know, you'll know." Murphy hangs up the phone "That was Barba. Good news, Wilkes has been remanded and slated for a psych eval. Bad News: it's a tough to try a case with no victims." He says to all of us. "Where are we?"

"I got more bad news." Finn speaks up. "Just got off the phone with taru, Wilkes was telling the truth about those torture pictures. Photoshopped."

"I might have something." Nick comes over to us. " There was a nine-year-old from P.S. 27 who went missing last year."

"That's the special needs boy." Olivia adds on.

Nick nods "he turned up six days later, couldn't tell the police where he'd been."

Murphy directs us "show the family Wilkes' photo. Go back to the school. See if anyone has seen Wilkes with kids, and while you're at it, check out any open molestation cases."

We all move, and Amanda and I take to the school the boy used to attend to. We show the photo of Simon to teachers, students and parents but no one recognizes him. "It's like he's a friggen ghost." I say as we question another parent about him.

"Men like this blend in, they don't stay out in any particular way." She explain as she holds the photo up to another women with a child. "Do you recognize this man?" She asks.

The women barely looks at it and says no before shuffling away from us. "People always this scared?" I ask her.

She shrugs "they don't really want to know who this person is. They just want to keep going on with their lives." Another women picks up her child from school and Amanda asks her if she knows him.

The women shakes her head and almost moves away but stops, lowering her daughter from her hip and holding her by the hand "wait, yes. I've seen him." She says.

"Where?" I ask, hoping for some kind of information we can use to lock him up.

"He takes pictures sometimes of the kids at pick-up. I asked a friend of mine if she knew him but she didn't either. She had her husband ask him the next day who he was but he pulled out a card for his business and said he was working on a new project." She explains to us. "Is there a problem?" She asks.

"No, no problem. Thank you for your help." I say, not wanting to startle her or her daughter. She nods and walks away from us. The school day ends and we head back to the station.

Amanda and I are the last ones back and Murphy says out loud "I find myself in the terrible position of hoping we found a victim."

"That was the boy who went couldn't I.D. Wilkes." Nick explains.

"A few kids and moms at the school recognized him. He takes pictures, but he hasn't bothered anyone." I say next informing them what Amanda and I have come up with.

"What about the molestation cases?" He asks.

Olivia answers "five lineups, five strikeouts. We've checked every single file on Wilkes' computer. We've checked every single photo on his cloud account. Nothing." She stands, moving her hands across one another like we striked out.

"Go further." Murphy directs " Look into, uh, former addresses close to school yards. What do we know about his history?"

"Well, he has an ex-wife and a son living in Toronto." Olivia says to him knowing that past "They're ducking our calls.

"Hey, that was CS." Amanda comes over, just off the phone "they found body fluids, hair fibers, fingerprints all over the dungeon. They're even on the boy's clothing in the hamper."

"Good, and they're running DNA?" Murphy asks.

"Yeah, they already did that." She says back "only one hit: Wilkes."

"No trace of anyone else?" I ask.

"He must have cleaned the place up." Murphy says.

"The place isn't clean." Amanda reminds him, reminds us all "there's no sign of bleach there, and he can't just wipe up everybody else's DNA and leave his own."

"But he told us what he'd done to kids in there. I mean, why in God's name would anyone make that up?" Nick asks. We all sit there silently at his words, wondering where we go next.


	3. Chapter 3: Closed but Open

"Dr. Wong!" I smile to the familiar small man I've known since I was a child.

He smiles back to me "Maddison, hello!" He opens his arms for a hug and I lean down to give him one. "It's such a pleasure seeing you here." He says once we separate. "You'll do a great job here at SVU. Are you settling in nicely?" He asks.

"You two know each other?" Olivia asks with a small smirk.

I smile back to her "He and my father go way back. He was there at my communion."

"And confirmation." He adds on.

I laugh along with him. "Yes, I am settling in just fine." I inform him.

"Very good, tell your father I said hello." He nods his head to me and steps away to leave the hall we are all in.

"What was his evaluation?" I ask now that he is gone.

Murphy exhales to explain "he's sick, never got treatment and is bound to injure somebody at some point. Let's get going, we have a trial to prepare for." He looks to Barba and the two of them leave the hall with Benson and I trailing behind.

The next day after Nick is off the stand he meets us in the hall "that lawyer sandbagged me." He hums out with anger. I can see his eyes tense as he fights spewing more words out, clearly enraged with how his cross was done.

"It's alright, I'm sure you did just fine." I say, not sure what he is referring too. I wasn't in the courtroom during his or Finn's testimony, in case they decide to pull Amanda and I in later.

"The jury see's you're a good cop and was just protecting your family, it's alright." Olivia encourages him to relax in a low soothing tone.

Barba comes out soon after and we all huddle together in the middle of the hall "did you get a read on the jury?" Amanda asks.

He says "they're sickened by the details, but our emotional case is stronger than our legal one is." He looks over to Murphy "Simon's taking the stand tomorrow?"

My phone pings and I go to grab it as Olivia says back "jury's gonna see him for who he really is."

"I hope so." Barba responds "He's compartmentalized this part of his life for all those years. He may be able to hide it from them."

"Not from his ex-wife." I say as Amanda looks over my shoulder "she's willing to talk to us." I look over to Murphy who nods to me and Amanda telliing us to go. We quickly leave the courthouse and drive to Simon's ex wife's place.

Once we are let inside, the older women holds onto her arms in disbelief "I don't know how you found me. I changed my name, got off the Internet. I don't think Simon even knows where I moved after I remarried." She tells us.

I say back to her, trying to tell her we understand "sounds like you needed a clean break."

"When we met, I found Simon magnetic. But he has a darkness inside of him." She tells us.

"You knew about these fantasies?" Amanda asks.

"Not the extent of them, not at first, but then I started to notice how he would shut the laptop whenever I came into the room. One time, he left it open." She goes on.

"And what did you see, Ms. Walker?" I ask, urging her to go on.

"He was messaging with these other people, talking about Bobby and me, about things he'd let them do to us." She explains to us about that night. "Our child was six. He said it was just a game, but he knew, he knew he had to go. I told Bobby, "daddy has a sickness. He can't be around other people. I made a deal with Simon. As long as he promised to never see Bobby again or be around other children, I would keep quiet." She hesitates for a moment, a thought coming into her mind. "This room of his It's across from a grade school?" She asks at the end, fear showing through her eyes.

"It is." I assure her.

She shakes her head "would you be willing to testify?" Amanda asks her.

She shakes her head some more but soon changes the direction and moves it up and down "yes, I will."

Amanda takes out her phone and calls Olivia to tell her Ms. Walker would testify if needed to. She responds back shortly after and Amanda show me the responds "she wants you to come to the court tomorrow. Would you be able to do that?" I ask her.

"Tomorrow?" She asks, eyeing us both.

I nod to confirm "your son too?" I ask her, knowing we would need him there too to effect.

She exhales, a tear rolling down her face but nods to agree they will both comes back with us to the city. We sit in the living room as she talks to her son about everything we talked to her about and what is going to happen next. She asks questions and she tries her best to answer them and when they are all ready to go we leave to head back to the city. The next morning, as court is already in progress we slowly walk into the court room during Simon's testimony. Simon is clearly shaken by his presence, and the boy and his mother sit in a back row, as the man they used to call husband and dad begins to weep about his fear of hurting his family, how he would never do such a thing. Closing arguements begin shortly after Simon leaves the stand. Barba goes first "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Wilkes. Mr. Wilkes went beyond just thought. He watched streaming videos of boys being tortured. He built a dissection chamber, fully functioning, with electric saws, and a drain in the floor for blood. His own hidden art photos provide graphic evidence of exactly what he intended to do in that chamber. Simon Wilkes left his only son and never saw him again because he was that afraid of his own fantasies. And if the defendant was that convinced that he would eventually act, that he would torture his own son, torture him or even kill him, shouldn't we be?"

Simon's lawyer goes next "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Barba has brought a case with no evidence, no victim, no crime. What he has is a defendant he doesn't like An artist. Has Mr. Wilkes pushed boundaries? Yes. But has he ever harmed anyone? No. The pictures you saw were photoshopped. The idea of procuring a boy came from the undercover officer. The scene of the "crime" contained Mr.

Wilkes' DNA only. I'd like you to ask yourselves, have you ever had thoughts you knew you would never act on? I know I have. I'm sure the D.A. has. Cheating on your spouse? Killing your boss, maybe an in-law? Think about it. Better yet, don't think about it. Don't. Otherwise you'll be where Mr. Wilkes is now."

"That was a good argument." I lean in and whisper to Olivia.

She whispers back "So was his."

The jury is back with a verdict of not guilty on both counts just after three hours of deliberation. We go out to dinner afterwards, reeling from everything that happened. Barba drinks his second drink "jury deliberated less than three hours."

"I wouldn't take it personally." Amanda tries to lighten the mood., "you put up a good fight."

The tension in the room thickens and I turn with the others next to me to see Simon with his wife and lawyer walk in and be seated.. Murphy says it first "let it go, Nick."

Olivia adds on "we gave it our best shot."

"Right, and that's it, right? We just wait for Simon to do something?" Nick argues, taking a large gulp from his glass. "He's not gonna stop."

"You can't let it get in your head, detective." Murphy tells him sternly. Nick finished his glass and leaves the table without another word.\

The next day, as I sit at my desk filling out paperwork Murphy and Benson begin to rush out of the building. "What's goin' on?" Finns asks them, standing to follow them.

"It's Nick, he's been arrested." Olivia quickly explains throwing on her jacket.

"What?" Finn and I ask together.

"He put Simon Wilkes in the hospital." Murphy says, hitting the down button on the elevator.

"Hold up, I'll get my jacket." Finn says moving to go back to get his things.

Olivia stops him "No, stay here with Madison. We'll keep you updated as we go." She finishes just as the elevator arrives.

"You got it boss." He replies to her and the two of them leave. My mouth hangs open as it closes and he turns around, putting an arm around my back "come on, it's all good." He tries to reassure me.

A few hours go by before the two of them return with Amanda. Finn and I know he was arraigned in court before but no one called us to tell us what happened. We all go into Murphy's office. The D.A. won't budge. It's not his first time." Declan says, the last one in.

"$500,000? He's not a flight risk, and he's not dangerous." Olivia argues him.

"$500,000?" I repeat her words "that's high." I back up Olivia.

"He acted like dirty Harry. He beat a man bloody." Declan reminds us both.

Amanda spits back "yeah, a man who threatened to string up little boys and slit their throats."

"Wilkes was found not guilty. He's not even on the registry." He argues back.

"But we all know what he is." I try to remind him how gross Simon is.

Finn says "Amaro got cut. He was just defending himself."

"You were there?" Declan asks sarcastically.

"Well, we should go out and talk to witnesses - that support that story." Amanda speaks up.

Declan quickly shoots it down. "You'll do no such thing. Do not even think about investigating on your own. Is that clear?" He asks for affirmation.

"Yes, sir." She says back to him.

Olivia is about to say something but Declan speaks before she could "we go about our business as usual." He sits at his desk, moving papers around "Where are we on that tourist?"

"I caught that call." Finn talks "Hans Erhard, German. Robbed, beaten, and sodomized in his hotel room last night."

"You get his statement?" Declan asks.

"He's recovering from surgery. The perp raped him with a gun." He tells him.

Declan gives an order "go to the hospital, see what he remembers."

Rollins, Finn and I leave the room and make our way to Bellevue Hospital.


	4. Chapter 4: No Answers

We go into the room were Hans is staying. He exits the bathroom as we come in and I start the interview "Hi Hans, we're with the special victims unit. Can we ask you a few questions.

"Sure." He says in an accent I'm still working on placing.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Rollins asks.

He begins to slowly walk back to his bed "I went on Craigslist, looking for a real New York girlfriend experience."

"You took her on a date?" Finn asks.

"No, she came to my room. She asked if she could order champagne from room service." He tells us. I write what he says down in my notepad.

"What did she look like?" Rollins asks.

He makes a face while climbing into bed "not like her picture. Maybe 25, but rough. Said her name was Lisette."

"So you two talk?" I ask.

"Not really." He answers pulling the blanket back over himself. "She got right down to business, unzipped my pants, and put her hand on me. There was a knock at the door. I figured room service had arrived. I said, "come in. It's open." In came a man with a gun."

"Can you describe this man?" Fin asks him.

He gives a basic description "Latin, scary" and shrugs. "He hit Lisette with the gun, held it on me, demanded my wallet and passport. I was nervous opening the safe, so he hit me with the gun, took everything. Then he forced me down on the bed and used the gun to rape me."

I ask him, already feeling like I knew the answer "and the girl? Where was she?"

"Lisette was in the corner, crying, terrified." He says.

"Did the room service ever come?" Amanda asks, also knowing.

"No." He says, like he's realizing it for the first time.

"This was a scam. She set you up." Finn explains to him. He sighs and averts his eyes to his bed. The three of us excuse ourselves from the room and make our way to the hotel, calling CSU along the way.

We meet CSU there, and go over the crime scene. The details match his statement and after finishing up setting up the crime scene we head back to the precinct to go over everything with Olivia and Declan. "Hans Erhard, 32, a tourist from Cologne, Germany. He answered an ad on Craigslist, looking for company." I go over from the start, pointing out our victim on the board.

Rollins goes on "he ended up getting rolled and raped. The girl he met said her name was Lisette. This is her surveillance photo, and this is her Craigslist ad."

Declan asks "we're assuming she was in on the job?"

"She told him she was calling room service, but the hotel only shows one outgoing call to a no-name cell." Finn explains.

"She never called for help." I add on "And she must have taken the stairs, because there's no footage of her leaving."

"What about the doer?" Declan asks.

Finn clicks a button and switches pictures on the screen "he's a pro. Hotel security doesn't recognize him or the girl."

"Maybe they move around." He says out loud "check all Times Square budget hotels."

Benson now questions "and C.S.U. didn't get anything from the hotel room?"

Finn almost chuckles "a midtown tourist hotel? They'll be going through bodily fluids, hairs, and prints for weeks.

"Any open cases with a similar M.O.?" She asks next.

I answer her "yeah, four in the last year. They were robberies, beatings, but no rape, and no arrests were made. And in each case, the vic returned to his own country, so." I open my arms as if to say 'can't do anything'

"Is this ad still up on Craigslist?" Declan asks.

"Yeah, it's sent from an Internet cafe." Amanda says. "Taru says there's no point in trying to track it."

"Any point in answering it?" He asks.

Olivia looks to him "you're thinking of answering it? Talk about being proactive."

"They just rolled somebody last night." Finn argues "they may be laying low."

"Maybe they're feeling lucky." Declan says back. "Especially if someone calls," his accent changes to an Irish one "visiting from Ireland feeling lonely."

We all eye each other but he moves to set up the sting. "He always so enthusiastic to go undercover?" I ask Olivia as we move to help get things going.

She eyes me with a small grin "like I said, proactive" and walks away.

Finn and Olivia go with Declan undercover while I stay at the desk to clear up paperwork. Amanda goes off to a meeting of some sort and I wait in anticipation to hear back from the team. I get a call a little after 7 P.M saying they caught the girl and her pimp and were heading back to the precinct now. The night was busy with booking and more paperwork. Declan tells us all to go home and that we'll pick up in the morning.

"Anybody hear from Amaro?" Declan asks first thing as he walks into the bull pen.

"Yeah, I saw him this morning." Olivia answers him. "He's as good as can be expected."

"What about last night's perps? They lawyered up?" He asks, looking at a file.

"Little Tino, the pimp, got himself a guy in a nice suit. He won't be talking." Finn explains.

"And Lisette, aka Ellie, is in holding, waiting for legal aid." I sigh out the information about the girl.

"He doesn't even look out for his own?" Amanda questions.

Finn tells her "it's penny-wise."

A man in a suit, probably a lawyer walks towards us "I'm looking for Ellie Porter. Sorry I'm late, I just caught the case." He says. He's a tall man, good looking features.

"I thought she had a public defender." Olivia says eyeing the man whose now next to her.

"Rollins, Grey, meet Trevor Langan." He introduced us to him "He's a, uh, high-priced mouthpiece for lowlifes."

"And you, once." He quickly says back trying to hide a smirk "how soon we forget. It's nice to see you, detective."

"It's actually sergeant now." She corrects him "So what, you caught a pro bono?"

"Yeah." He answers "Do a few of them a year. It keeps me an honest lawyer.

"That's an oxymoron." I chirp in, knowing a thing or two about how lawyers work.

He looks to me with a grin and Declan stands up, ready to meet the man defending Ellie. "Uh, this is our new C.O., lieutenant Murphy." Olivia introduces them and Declan waves.

"Wow. A lot of changes around here." He comments "And, uh You, are you doing okay with, uh Uh, everything?" He asks her.

I only know a few things about Olivia's past. She's been on the job at SVU the longest, the easiest to find information on. "Yeah, I'm fine." She says back to him "Thanks." She says and he walks away.

"He's tall." I comment, not understanding what just happened at the end there.

"Yeah, like that's a skill set." Olivia chuckles, sitting back down at her desk.

Rollins asks "you two have history?"

"I don't date lawyers." Olivia quickly says back.

"Since when?" Amanda asks and I decide to get back to researching the case at hand.

We have a line up ready later that day. I stay with Olivia to do Hans' lineup while Rollins takes care of Little Tino's.

We walk Mr. Hands up to the window "take your time, there is not rush." I tell him as we come up to the window.

"That's her." He says about 7 seconds later.

"Okay, Mr. Erhard." I say.

"Which- which number?" Olivia asks.

"Three." He says to confirm.

"Thank you. This way, Mr. Erhard." Declan takes her over to the next window.

I turn to Olivia and the lawyer "well, that seemed pretty definitive."

Trevor argues "you need to start seeing Ellie as a victim. She was pimped out at 16."

Olivia disagree's "she tried to pull a gun on Murphy."

He defends her "yeah, coerced by her pimp."

"Look, I'm the first person to defend battered women. But she also set up a tourist to be raped. She's a career criminal." She tries to get him to understand.

Although I want to agree with her, I can't help but feel her lawyer has a point. Before I can stop it, I spit out "a career criminal? Come on, Olivia, up to now it's only been misdemeanors." I bite my lip. Wondering if the the use of her first name was too much.

Trevor obviously backs me "She needs rehab, not jail time." And with that, he walks away.

Olivia turns to me "so, you're agreeing with low life lawyers? Is that was they taught you at the FBI?"

"They taught me to build a relationship where you can. Ellie is a victim, she can be talked too, worked with." I say to her.

Olivia just semi rolls her eyes at me and walks away to the window where Hans' is iding his rapist.

After both lawyers are gone, we meet again at our desks to go over everything we have. Declan starts off "there you have it. Eyewitness I.D., the most unreliable form of evidence." He asks. "Do we have anything on the lucky man?"

Rollins goes over information in a file "Little Tino, real name Augustino Aguilar, does have a record. Runs with a queens-based Dominican gang. He's got two arrests for misdemeanor possession, pled down. And then another domestic but the charges were dropped when the girlfriend recanted."

He asks next "what about DNA?"

Finn explains "Melinda said there's nothing in the prelim rape kit. She's checking Tino's gun for Erhard's DNA."

I comment "well, we still got him on the gun charge and maybe the attempted robbery on you."

"Wait a second." Declan pauses "there was another witness in the room when Erhard was raped Ellie Porter.

Olivia stands from where she was resting "Ellie Porter, his accomplice? And the only one that was positively I. D.'ed by the vic? The defense will have a field day with that!"

"Her record says she started working for little Tino when she was 16. She can testify to underage sex trafficking." He argues, going closer to her.

"She's not gonna help us, okay? Little Tino has her pawned." She says back.

"Pimps almost always take care of the legal so they can control their girls." Finn informs.

"He didn't even bother with her." He reminds Olivia. "Maybe that'll come back to bite him. You know her lawyer. Try to get him to see the upside to a sit-down." He goes to walk away, but adds on without turning "Bring Maddison with you!"

Olivia and I sit walk into the pen together once Ellie and Trevor are seated and done talking. We get inside, sit down and Olivia starts "Ellie, we need your help here."

"I'm not giving up little Tino." She smirks towards us, taking a sip of her soda. "He's my gangster. He's my daddy."

"He lawyered up, Ellie." Olivia says matter of factly.

"He left you in holding all night." I remind her.

She looks to her left "my lawyer's just fine."

I look to him with wide eyes, he knows what we are trying to do. "So listen to my advice, testify against Tino. You were a teenager when you started working for him."

"That was my choice." She claims.

"You don't have a choice at 16, Ellie." I say out loud "He had sex with you. That's rape." I try to make it clear to her.

"I love him." She says back lowly but meaning it.

"But he doesn't love you, Ellie." Olivia says back. You think he's not gonna give you up to save himself?" She asks her.

"He'll look out for me." Was Ellie's response.

"Okay." Olivia pushes herself back in the chair "so I guess there's nothing else to talk about."

"No, there isn't." Olivia stands up to leave.

As I stand up to follow her I push a chocolate bar on the table. Ellie quickly puts her hand over it and Olivia knows what to do next. She jumps right in, moving closer to her " Ellie, have you ever gone through full withdrawal? Hmm? I can see that you're shaking, huh?" She holds at her wrist "You're not feeling well. You're going to be crying, lying on the floor of your cell, curled up in the fetal position, puking your guts out."

"Shut up." Ellie yells at her.

"Is that what you want? To be lying in a pool of vomit, dirty, pathetic? Because you have a chance to break this cycle. You have a chance to clean up your act."

"You want to be my mommy? Lady detectives love saving girls like me." She eyes her up and down. "But I like my life just the way it is."

"Well, good for you." Olivia responds. "Okay, so we'll be sending you over to central booking, uh, for robbery and accomplice to rape." She goes over to the door one more time.

Olivia leaves the room with me still sitting at the table "Ellie, I know this isn't where you want to be right now, but it's where we are." She eyes me, rage still coursing through her eyes, her hands still shaking over the candy bar. "If you help us, we can help you. You can overcome all of this."

"I'm tellin' you what I told her, I'm happy with my life." She grills me down while saying that and turns her attention back to the soda in her hand.

Trevor sighs, looking down but then meets my gaze "just give me a minute with her, will you?

"Take two. Not sure it's gonna do any good." I say back and leave the room.


	5. Chapter 5: Getting Somewhere

"Maddison!" Declan calls me into his office "we have a match on a baby boy doe, it's Ellie's son. I want you in with Olivia when we tell her." He driects me without even looking up.

"Okay." I say back "Want us to go in now?" I ask him.

"Call her lawyer, he should be there. We're gonna try again to get her to turn on Lil Tino." He directs of me.

"Okay." I say again, leaving to call Trevor.

"Hey Trevor. Its Maddison with SVU. Yah, Hi." I listen as he asks me how I am "I'm good, look we need to to talk to Ellie again, can you come in?"

"Again? She's not going to change her mind, I tried." He returns back to me.

"Just come in, we have one more card up our sleeve." I inform without giving away to much.

"Any chance you''ll share some of your secrets with me over a dinner?" He asks bluntly.

I'm sort of taken a back by his brasenness but coyly reply "we'll see how this interview goes" and hang up before he could say anything further.

An hour later he's here with Ellie and waiting in the interrogation room. "You called Langan?" Olivia asks shocked once she see's him in there.

"We can't talk to her without her lawyer present. She's invoked." Declan reminds her.

"We're just telling her that A.C.S. has her son." She says "Not that she's gonna care" Her eyes roll.

"She might." He replies. He looks at me with the folder in my hand "show her the baby's photo. See if that motivates her to testify against Tino."

Olivia and I walk in together, sitting down like we did the day before.

I drop the photo on the table and push it forward. She quickly grabs it and scoots it closer to herself "Oh, my God, he's alive. Is Noah alive?" She exclaims.

"How long has it been since you've seen him?" I ask her.

"Before Christmas, last year." She responds, her eyes clued to the photo.

Olivia pushes "and why did you get rid of him?"

"I didn't. I O.D.'ed. The holidays are tough for me. And when I got back, they told me that Noah had died." She tells us all, her body still shaking from withdrawl.

"Who's "they?" I question.

"I can't." She simply says back.

"So the baby's father is little Tino?" Olivia asks her.

"No, I don't know who the father is. I was working when I got pregnant."

I ask "so when the baby was born, little Tino said that you could keep him?"

She answers "as long as I kept working."

"Who looked after the baby?" I ask, looking to her then to Trevor.

"Tino's mom. She ran a daycare facility at her house. She's very good with kids." Ellie tries to tell us.

Olivia quickly jumps on her comment "good with kids? Then why did she give Noah to a pornographer?"

"What?" Ellie asks. I ask the same question in my own head, not knowing this fact before coming in here.

"I found Noah When I arrested a couple who also had three underage kids that they were using for child rape videos." She says with disdain in her voice.

"A couple? Oh, my God. A long-haired guy, heavy, in a wheelchair?" She asks.

"What, you know him?" She asks.

"He did business with Tino, sold him a girl once, Asian. She was, like, ten." Ellie spills to us.

"Ellie, you think you'd be willing to testify to that?" I ask her, wanting to get back on track here.

"Against Tino?" She kind of laughs "he'll kill me."

Olivia sternly talks back to her "sweetheart, he gave your son to a child pornographer." She pulls the photo from under her hand and lifts it up "and if you don't give Tino up, then you're gonna do time. And who knows when you're gonna see little Noah again? "

She looks at the photo for a minute, clearly yearning to see her son again. "Fine, I'll testify. As long as I can see my son." She quickly adds on.

Olivia and I walk out of the room without saying more and allow her to talk to her lawyer for further information. Declan is already working on calling the DA for a warrant to search Tino's mother's house. We wait for everything to move forward, ready to take down Tino for good.

The lieutenant has me stay back with Ellie for this take down. If there are any questions we need answered, they are going to come straight to me. She sits in the same room, with more soda and chocolate shaking more and more than before as she withdraws off her addiction. She stands against a wall, biting at her finger nails giving Trevor a chance to talk to me. "So, about that dinner?" He asks, trying to hide a smile.

I sigh reluctantly "isn't frowned upon to fraternize at work?" I ask him.

"You're a detective, I'm a lawyer, there's nothing against it." He says sitting in a bit closer. "I can pick you up here tomorrow, say around 7?"

"How about 7:30. I live on 303 E 83rd." I whisper back to him.

"See you then." He smiles and sits back in his chair. I ultimately sit back in mine as well, waiting to hear from our lieutenant.

They bring in everyone from the house and Declan tells me to help Rollins with the working girls. After an hour or so of trying to talk to them, we leave and head out to the main pen "so three of the girls are under 18." I explain once they can hear me.

"They were all being held against their will, working for Tino." Amanda adds on.

"Okay, as for now, we got the mom on running an unregistered day-care center." Olivia says out loud, knowing it's not what we wanted.

"Any chance Tino's girls testify?" Declan asks.

I shake my head "the lives they've lived, they think Tino is looking out for them."

"Ellie doesn't." Olivia reminds us.

Declan says "keep working her. She made a statement, but we got to get her to testify before a grand jury."

Olivia hesitates "Ellie wants to see her son."

"Good." He answers. "Let them bond." He walks away.

"You okay with all this?" Amanda asks her.

Olivia shakes her head a little "I don't know. I've spent the last four months searching for baby doe's mother, and then I end up arresting her." She exhales, pushing aside some hair.

"Now you have to turn her." I remind.

She nods, eyeing the ceiling "and my only leverage is a Baby that she can't possibly take care of."

"That can't be easy." I say out loud once she is gone to Amanda.

Amanda nods "Yeah well, she can take of it." She says to me with a small smirk and walks away.

The next night I am called to move "Grey! Let's go!" Rollins yells at me as her and Olivia quickly move out of the precinct.

I grab my jacket from the chair and move behind them "what's going on?" I ask as we wait for the elevator.

Olivia answers "Ellie isn't at the halfway house, no one can find her. She was freaking out" She tells me as it bings.

"Anxiety and withdrawal are two things that don't mix well. She's looking for a fix." I spit out as we go down to the bottom floor.

We rush to the house, met by the sister there who brings us to the room she staying in. The sister opens the door "she told two of the girls she was freaking out about testifying tomorrow, asked them if they had anything to take the edge off, help her sleep."

"And they came to you?" Olivia asks.

"No, I do bed checks." The sister says. "This is what I found" she pulls the sheet down to see a made up bed to look like someone is sleeping in it.

"Any place she might go to score nearby?" I ask, not to familiar with the city.

"Are you kidding me?" She asks, and we move.

"How did we end up here?" Olivia asks as we are at a railroad track entrance.

"I told Taru to trace the GPS ankle bracelet that Aguilar was ordered to wear. He was here an hour ago. Just picked him up at his mother's house." FInn explains as he met us there. "He claims he was there all night."

Amanda comes over to us as we search the grounds "hey, they may have found something."

"Is it her?" Olivia asks.

Amanda answers "the body's burned up pretty bad."

We walk over to the entrance of the track and found the burnt body a female. I hold my breathe tightly, controlling the emotion inside of me. I exhale "was she alive when it happened?" I ask whomever is still around me.

"Can't tell until she gets examined." I place Olivia's voice. "Why don't you take a walk, we'll take care of the interviews." she tells me.

I shake my head "no, I'm fine. I can help."

But she doesn't let me go on "please, take a walk Maddison. I know this is tough. Go." She directs me and I nod a thankful nod and move away to breathe and try to compose myself. I've seen a lot of bad things on my life, but I've never had to smell the flesh rotting off of a poor women's body.


	6. Chapter 6: New Guy

TIME JUMP - 4 MONTHS!

"You okay?" Finn asks me as I walk in to the office one morning.

I keep my head down, ignoring his question and sit down at my desk. "We have a call. Let's go." Rollins says coming out of the break room and grabbing her jacket. Finn follows right behind her.

I wipe away the tear from my face before anyone could see and follow them out of the precinct. "We're here for Luna Garcia." I tell the women at the desk in the police station some miles away form our precinct.

"You can help yourself to that bitch" the women says "my partner's processing her now." She walks out from behind the desk and calls into the next room "Guapo, you done with the empathy thing? We can let this one go."

Finn speaks first "What up man?"

Amaro turns his head to us and says "Yo," like he wasn't expecting anyone to know him. "What's up?"

"Hey Nick." I say to him walking closer with the others.

"How are you?" Amanda asks.

"Look, I know you called.." Amaro starts off "I've just been busy, you know, pulling as much OT as I can."

I comment back, figuring how uncomfortable this is for him "we know how it is."

Rollins adds on "Yah, you won't be here for much longer." Rollins changes the subject back to work "listen, this girl you brought in, Luna Garcia."

"Yeah, she's underage." He says back "her prints came in from INS a half hour ago."

I add on "she's also a material witness in the rape homicide of Ellie Porter.

"Noah's mom?" He asks. "Does Liv know?"

"That's why we're here." Finn tells him.

"My partner did the paperwork. If I'd seen the want card, I'd have called right away." He tells us. "You know, I have a rapport with Luna, if you want me to talk to her-"

Finn interrupts before he could continue "Liv wants us to bring her in."

"Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I get it." He returns. He moves closer to the cell she is in "here."

I help guide her out of the building in handcuffs. She yells at us along the way "what's going on? Where are you taking me?"

"You're gonna be fine, honey." I tell her as we move towards the car "we just need to talk to you."

Just then there's a gun shot and I duck, pushing the witness along down with me "stay down!" Amanda yells.

I keep myself with the witness as Finn and Rollins move to go after the shooter.

Finn gets the shooter in custody after being hit by a car he has to go to the hospital. Rollins and I take the witness to the precinct. "Where's the shooter?" Olivia asks greeting us at the entrance.

"At the hospital with Finn." She tells her.

"The girl, Luna, is in interview. She is shaken up." I tell her.

Olivia asks "how'd they know you were picking her up?"

Rollins answers "Amaro thinks that they were followed to the precinct."

"Amaro?" Olivia questions.

"Yeah." I say back elongating the word. "He was the arresting officer."

A man walks in front of the three of us in a suit with blonde hair, blue eyes and a mustache, he starts talking like he knows what's going on "they shot at cops right outside the station? So they want us to know they're crazy."

Olivia stands up a bit taller "you must be my new detective."

"Dominick Carisi, Jr." He introduces himself, putting his hand out to shake ours. "Call me Sonny. I brought zeppoli."

Olivia clearly a bit shocked responds "I asked for an experienced, empathic detective - and they sent you?"

He shakes his head once when saying "I'm way experienced. Sensitive and moody, too." Amanda and I eye each other, trying to hold back some laughter. "And I can do that whole empathy thing."

"Where are you from?" I ask as we begin to follow Olivia into her office.

"Staten Island SVU for two months, and Brooklyn for almost a month, and then Queens last week."

"So they love you wherever you go, Carisi?" Olivia basically sarcastically asks.

"Call me Sonny." He tells us "I was supposed to start tomorrow, but I heard about the shooting over my scanner, so I came in." He says to us all, then directs his attention to Olivia "What's our read?" He asks.

"The 116 had a witness of an open case. They took a shot at her." Olivia explains.

"The girl giving the smoothie to the mook in a minivan? What's she a witness to?" He asks.

I elaborate for him "a few months ago, a trafficked girl was gang-raped and set on fire-

He jumps in "the Ellie Porter case."

Amanda confirms "Yeah."

He says "I remember hearing about it. It was horrible. Her pimp green-lit her, right?" He asks, looking at the three of us.

"Little Tino." Olivia says his name with disdain "he took the rap, but we don't think he ordered the hit."

"So this girl's hooking for the same crew, and you think that she's gonna give up Mr. Big. Want me to take a run at her, sergeant?"

"I can certainly see why you're so popular." Olivia comments and directs "Rollins, how about you talk to the John. And, Carisi, come with Grey and I." She looks at me and I smile fakily, not really thrilled to be placed with the over enthusiastic newby. "I need you to follow my lead or you'll be oh for four, and then your all-borough tour of SVU will continue in the Bronx." We follow her out of her office and to another room.

"Let us do the talking." I say as Olivia opens the door so we can interview Luna. Olivia goes in first, sitting down across from her, I sit next to her and Carisi takes a seat next to Olivia, scooting a bit away from the table. "We want to know if you know who this is?" Olivia pushes the photo forward so she can see Ellie's photo clearly.

"I don't know her." She says in broken English.

"We believe you do." I encourage her to tell us.

"I don't know her." She repeats again.

Olivia answers back this time "yeah, you do, Luna. You lived with her. We found your passport when we raided Little Tino's mom's house. Do you know what happened to Ellie?" She asks her.

"Just put me in jail." She says back quickly with fear in her voice.

"Luna, listen to me." I say to her, being empathetic "they took a shot at you, they want you dead. They killed Ellie. Now if you work with us, if you talk with us, we can make sure that you stay safe."

Carisi feels the needs to jump in then "safe as you can be. Anyway." Olivia and I eye him with dark glares. "She's not gonna talk to us if we keep blowing smoke." We both sigh, not knowing what to say back to him but he takes it as a change to add more "how long you been on the streets? One year, two? Six months before that, you're in Mexico getting turned out." He pushes further "you have any hope left? You still praying to our lady of Guadalupe every night, asking her forgiveness?"

"Carisi, would you be so kind to get Ms. Garcia something to drink?" Olivia tries to get him out of the room.

"I told you, I don't know her!" She yells back as Sonny stands up to get the drink.

"Okay, no problem, sarge. But before I go, that wasn't a warning shot. Your papi green-lit your ass."

I try to stop him from scaring her further "hey, that's not helpful."

"You ask me, you got one hope, t-nonimmigrant status for trafficked girls." He says something that I've never heard of and I look to Olivia for clarification. "You get a new identity, you move to a new city. Welcome to America." The girl adjusts her eyes to the side, listening to what he is saying. "Now I can pull those strings and make that happen, but you have to make a statement. At least we can offer you a chance. But that's all it is, it's a chance." Olivia's face is as shocked as mine.

She asks Olivia if this is true "It's us or them. We want you to live, Luna. They don't. Do you understand that?"

"Si." She says back.

I quickly jump in on the silence "and my partner here is gonna get you that drink that we talked about." I urge him to move out of the room and he does. I follow the two of them out the room and to the window.

"You got pretty lucky in there, promising her "t" status." Olivia says to him once the door is closed. "What are you, an immigration lawyer?" She asks.

"Halfway there." He answers. "Night school, Fordham law. I just did a term paper on "t" non-immigrant status." He points to her behind the glass "she's a good candidate."

"So you did a paper, and now you told her that you have pull?" Olivia asks him.

"It doesn't actually matter if I'm actually telling the truth. I mean, I got her to believe I am." He responds.

I exhale with a small chuckle and an eye roll as Olivia replies "look, that may work in Staten Island, but that's not how we do things here. Okay?"

"My apologies, sergeant." He quickly apologies "but after what happened to Ellie Porter, she knows we can't keep her safe."

"So you scare her?" I ask him a bit too loudly, unable to control my voice.

"What happened to that empathy thing you do?" Olivia asks him.

"When's the last time she got empathy from a man?" He asks her back, making a point, "I mean, she's used to a pimp telling her what to do. To her, a nice guy is just playing her."

I try to keep my face firm with annoyance as Olivia agrees with his method this time. "Fine. Just get her to talk." She walks away, leaving us to interview the girl.

"So, I guess I'll let you take the lead on this one." I say as we walk to the door.

"Luna, look. We want to help you here alright." Sonny starts off once the door is shut "we moved you from that jail cell, to here for your safety but we need you to talk to us." He encourages her.

"And you can get me new identity?" She looks to him and then to me.

I nod to confirm "we can put in the paperwork by the end of business today." I change the subject "when did you start working for your pimp?" I ask her.

She shrugs, looking away from both of us "I was 12 when I ran away from home, he picked me up, told me he could take care of me." She explains to us.

"Did you get pimped out right away?" Sonny asks.

I cough, telling him to cool it and just let her talk through the timeline. She goes on "he kept me to himself at first, like a real relationship. He invited a friend over, let him have me for a night. I thought it normal." She says.

Sonny interrupts again and I roll my eyes "do you know his name?"

She shakes her head "Diego or someting, I don't remember." She goes on "He started to have more and more men come over to see me. Eventually he turned me to the street, too used for him."

She stops talking, so I ask her "do you remember where you stayed those first months?"

She hesitates, looking at Sonny before choking out "maybe. I don't know." She shifts her eyes to the side.

"Are you thirsty?" I ask her, wanting to build more trust. She nods to confirm that she is and I stand up, going to the door to leave and get her a soda "why don't you tell detective Carisi about the house and I'll get you a soda." She nods to me and I open the door to leave. I give Sonny an eye raise, to tell him to get that information before I get back and he nods back, hopefully understanding what I was going for.

I get the soda from the machine, on my way back I stop where Olivia is at our timeline board. "Okay, guys, so where are we at? Did you get anything from our John?"

"Looks like the same setup as Little Tino's operation." Amanda fills her in.

"Burner cell phones, craigslist ads." Finn adds on.

"But Little Tino's in jail." I comment from the side "this is another franchise."

"Okay. So what about the shooter? Diego Ramirez." She asks

"He somehow managed to lawyer up while still in surgery." Finn explains to us.

Amanda jumps in "but his prints match ones on the gas can, found at Ellie's murder."

Olivia jumps on that fact, asking "so he was there. Did he rape her?"

Amanda answers "we're waiting on that."

Sonny walks over from the room he was suppose to be in "I know why Luna doesn't need a lawyer. She's got a mouth on her." He eats a zeppoli out of his white bag.

Olvia asks "did you get anything?"

"I got the address of the house she's working out of." He informs her.

"But did you get her pimp?" Olivia pushes for more.

"It's too soon to ask." I jump in, knowing she's not ready to give that up.

"So you got nothing." Olivia says in a some what defeated tone.

"I'm trying to build a rapport." He says back, licking his fingers. "Just stake out the house, you'll find him." He offers Finn some food.

Finn's eyes widen at Sonny's odd behavior "who're you?"

Olivia semi smiles "Detective Tutuola, meet Sonny Carisi. Remember that sensitive, experienced detective that I put in for?" She asks a by sarcastically.

Finn nods towards him, widening his eyes in a bit of shock some more and I try not to chuckle. "So who do we call for a warrant?" Sonny asks eagerly.

"Easy there, cowboy." I push the brakes.

Olivia tells him "we've already taken down one house, and all we got was him. There's something bigger going on here.

"Maybe we do stake it out, put a U.C. inside?' Amanda says to her.

"Cool" Sonny jumps in "they don't know me. How about I do it?"

Olivia stops his eager thought again "hold that thought. How about we go with somebody that they do know, and somebody that they also know has a grudge against NYPD." She looks to us.

I look from her to Amanda and question "Nick?" Amanda shrugs back at me as if to say who else and Olivia moves to make a call.


	7. Chapter 7: Closing in

We suit up and get ready to go into the house. Nick already met with the John, planting the seed of his deception. Amanda takes the lead, directing the cops to bust the door open "Police!" She shouts once it's open.

The officer who opened the door shouts back "we're clear!"

Carisi yells out from behind Amanda, in front of me "nobody move! Let's see your hands!"

We move forward towards another room "clear that room." She directs the officer.

I spot a women in the kitchen and quickly go toward her with my gun aimed up "stay where you are. Hands in the air! Hands in the air! Come on, come on." I tell her and she does as I say.

Amanda see's where I am and she shouts "go, take her." She tells me to take her to the truck in the front.

I put her hands behind her back, not putting any cuffs on them and I tell her "you're okay, we're gonna take you out of here." She pants heavily, probably freaked out and doesn't say anything back to me.

A few moments later Finn comes out from behind the house and tells me "he's in."

I nod to tell him I understand what he means and he radios over to Olivia the same information. We clear out the rest of the house and take everyone into the precinct.

I go into the interrogation room with the blonde Rollins found with Sonny. We sit on either side of the table. Sonny places a cup down in front of her "chocolate milk. The real kind, with syrup, not powder."

I look to him, hiding an eye roll. The girl mutters back "I don't want that. I'm not a kid." She looks to me next "and I'm waiting for my lawyer to come."

Sonny answers her "you think Joaquin is sending you a lawyer? He's downtown right now, he's claiming he had no idea you were turning tricks."

"That's not true." She argues to us back.

"You're how old, 14?" I ask. She doesn't answer. "Just tell us what he's done to you, how you got here."

"I don't need your help." She spits back to me.

"No?" Sonny asks, puling out her cell "we got your phone." He opens the screen "so how about your daughter? Does she need our help?"

"They raided a house last may, and there were children inside." I explain to her "not so tonight. Where's your baby, Missy?"

She looks down at the phone, holding back tears. "Can I have something to eat?"

I nod and stand up "I'll order you something."

Olivia comes out of the other room "I'm oh for three."

I keep myself near the window, watching Sonny talk with Missy. "These girls have been through so much, they are scared to death."

"And these idiots in D.C. want us to send them back because they're "terrorists bringing over ebola." Olivia sighs out with frustration, clearly strained from all of this. "Did you get anything from Missy?" She asks eyeing the girl through the glass.

"No, not yet. But cowboy's in there talking to her about her baby." I return.

"Her baby?" She asks kind of shocked. "She's, what, 15?"

I give her the details "in foster homes, she ran away. She got seduced by some Romeo pimp, and got turned out, and then sold to Joaquin's gang."

"Just like Ellie." She breathes out shaking her head.

Finn calls over to us "tour setup worked. After I let Joaquin go, he called up Amaro and told him he owed him a favor. Said he'd put him on retainer."

"Well, I'm glad Joaquin's happy. Did we get anything out of the raid?"

Amanda comes over to answer her question "Look, Taru is going through the girls' cell phones. The numbers match the ones on the craigslist ads. And lots of phone calls from midtown hotels.?

Olivia seems defeated "oh, great."

Amanda keeps going though "and another thing. All the girls had the same app for a same car service, Quickride."

Finn goes further "you've seen the signs. "Drive for us, make four grand a month."

Olivia's eyes light up just a bit "I bet they're making a lot more than that driving around out-calls. Finn and Rollins, go talk with the company. Grey, get in there with Carisi and make sure he stays calm." She directs us all and I nod, walking over to my phone to order Missy some food.

All the girls get out on bail after the lawyer shows up and shuts down our interview. We come in the next day and continue working different angles. "Amaro just left his meeting with Joaquin." Finn tells us hanging up his phone.

"Guess we'll see what happens." I comment back, going back to the computer to go through social media feeds of the girls.

About an hour goes by when Olivia runs out of her office "Little Tino just got shanked in prison.

She looks to Finn "do we still have eyes on Joaquin?"

"I'll call Amaro." He quickly comments picking up the phone.

Sonny's phone goes off and he picks up. Amanda adds on to the news "that was Bellevue Prison Ward. Diego, the guy that shot at us, he just got hit in his hospital room." She drops her cell on the table "he's gone."

"When it rains, it bleeds." Sonny also comments "Missy, that kid, shot dead in a car with a John."

"Somebody's cleaning house." Olivia breathes out.

"Ya, and fast. All that within 5 minutes of each other."

"All right. Go, go, go." She directs "Bellevue" She tells Rollins, "Attica" she directs to Finn, "the shooting" she points to Sonny and I. "I'm going home to check on Noah."

"What do we have officer?" I ask as we pull up to the crime scene.

"Young female, shot point blank in the head trying to exit the car. Male, 42, shot in the temple. Looks like one shooter." The CSU quickly goes over the basics.

"Any cameras?" Sonny asks, eyeing around us.

The women shakes her head "not in this neighborhood."

"We should canvas the area, see if anyone heard anything." Sonny tells me, taking out a notebook and going to start to walk off.

"Hold up!" I call out to him "no one here is going to say anything, look at these buildings-" I point around to the few that are around us "they are run down and empty. This girl was working, she knew where to take her John's for some privacy." I tell him, knowing there won't be anyone around to interview.

He sighs, lowering his head for only a moment "alright, let's see what we have then." And we go back over to the crime scene to get all the information we can on the shooting.

Sonny and I are the last one's back at the precinct to go over everything. Olivia puts everything on the board and Barba comes over from his office to go over whatever we have. "Diego Ramirez got a hotshot in Bellevue." She points to him on the board. "Missy Brooks, executed along with a John. Looks like he was just collateral damage. And Little Tino, critical. Still in surgery, shivved nine times."

Amanda quickly reminds "And Noah. And Lucy." She looks to Barba "A shooter opened up at the playground."

He asks "you okay, Liv? We should get them out of the city."

She tells him "there's a detail on them and we've already picked up Luna. Now, what we need to do now is find out whoever ordered these hits, starting with Joaquin."

"We know how this started." Sonny starts off "Amaro met with Joaquin and an hour later the knives come out? Somehow he got that message to his boss."

"How?" Amanda asks. "We had Joaquin's phone tapped, he was under surveillance."

Olivia ignores the questions, moves forward with a plan "tell Amaro to set up a meet with Joaquin. The second those two sit down, you bring them both in."

"You wanna arrest Nick?" I ask her.

Barba looks to her "it has to look good" he says under his breathe.

She nods to him "I know. Anything else?"

Sonny speaks up "Missy was killed in Richmond hill in a John's car. I'm wondering how she got there. How about I go talk to Quickride?"

Olivia says "how about we do?" And the two of them go off to meet with Angel while I stay behind with Finn and Amanda to keep things going here. I get a call from Olivia a few hours later as her and Finn leave Attica "Get ready for a sting, tell Carisi he's going in as a John. Pull up an add on craigslist, her names Carmen. Get it set up for tonight, I'll call Taru."

She doesn't let me get a word in before hanging up on me to finish setting things up "Sonny!" I say to him. He sits across from me and looks up from his computer screen to see what I want "you're going in as a John tonight. Girl named Carmen." I tell him, pulling up craigslist to start searching for the girl.

"Click on that one." He points to a link from over my shoulder. "That's her, Carmen." He picks up a burner cell and dials the number. "Yea, yea I'm looking for a date. Yea, she'll do just fine." He says into the phone like he's having a casual conversation. He keeps his eyes trained on mine while he talks "Carmen. Okay. I have a room at the Richmond Hill Motor lodge in Queens." He nods "That's the one. Room 315." He hangs up the phone "we're all set."

"I'll call Taru, let him know to get moving on the set up." Amanda says picking up her phone.

"Someone should call Barba too, let him know what's going on." I say out loud, looking to Finn. He nods, picking up his phone to dial out. "You sure your ready for this?" I ask him.

"These scumbags are going down." He affirms to me.

I smile "let's get you lookin like a John then!" I stand up and make my way to the break room closet to get him changed out of his suit and into something more suitable for the job. I pull out a pair of khaki's and a button up shirt for him to change into. "This is more like it." I say handing it over to him. "And that awful mustache of yours will help a lot too." I smile as he takes his jacket off.

He kind of chuckles "Aw come on, it isn't that bad." He starts to unbutton his under shirt.

I turn from him, looking for some shoes he could switch too "you look like somebody's creepy father." I tell him honestly. He just laughs a little at my comment and puts his white shirt over the bed and starts to button up the new flannel. "Better?" He asks.

I nod "yea, just remember to be sleezy and creepy from the start. We need her to get Selena there." I move to the door to allow him to finish changing.

"Sleezy, yah. I can do that." I hear him hyping himself up while I leave the room.


	8. Chapter 8: End Game

There's a knock on the door and Sonny answers it "Hey. You must be Carmen." He smiles towards her.

"Hi." She shyly says back.

"Hi. Come on in." He moves aside to let her in. "Come in." He touches her hair as she walks past him. He locks the top lock on the door "You're so pretty." He says to her.

"He's playing the role, alright." I mutter under my breathe to Amanda as we watch the TV from the connecting room.

He asks the girl "so, what are you gonna do for me?"

She answers back in a small voice, broken English "whatever you want. Massage is 200."

He gets closer to her "massage? That's a joke, right? I didn't call you for a massage."

He goes in to grab her arms "just tell me what you want."

"Oh, yeah, that's better." She begins to fight him "I like the ones who struggle." He keeps his hands on her wrists.

"Please don't hurt me!" She begs. "Please don't!" She tries to run for the door.

"Where are you going? No, no, no." He blocks her as she tries to run to the door. The girl runs into the bathroom scared, we switch the channel to get the other screen up.

"I like it rough." He spits to her "that's what I want. You can't do that, you find someone who can. Because this ain't what I'm paying for, baby." The girl takes out her phone to dial who we all hope is Selena "Yeah, get out your phone." He yells to her. She drops it on the ground, and Sonny keeps his creepy John facade up "pick up that phone! Pick up that phone and call somebody right now!"

"Selena?" The girl cries out into the phone.

There's a knock on the door a by later and Sonny moves to answer it. We see from our camera feed it's a male and a women. We let it play out. "Whoa, whoa." Sonny backs up, his hand in the air. "I just wanted a new girl. You sent me the virgin Maria." He says to the man holding a gun to his face.

"Carmen." Selena comes into the room.

"You know what? Forget it. We don't gotta do this." Sonny shakes his head.

Selena yells at him "you hurt my girl. You need to pay."

He nods "okay. No problem, ma'am. No problem. Lower the gun. We're all friends." He keeps them all focused on him. "Nobody needs to get hurt here."

Finn rushes in from the front and I kick the door I'm behind open. I yell out "hands in the air!" as I walk in and quickly kick the gun away from the man on the floor.

Finn comments out "this one's done."

I move forward, keeping my gun trained on Selena "she's my cousin. I was trying to help." She tries to lie.

"Yeah, save it, sister." I spit back "let's go." I wave in an officer to handcuff her "Come here." The officer takes her away and Amanda goes to Carmen.

"Luna give us anything more?" I ask as we all sit around the television a few hours later. Amanda clicks a few things after Barba handed her something to plug in and we wait. He goes on to explain "Tenancingo is the epicenter for sex trafficking in Mexico. Pimping is their main industry. It is a very poor village, shack after shack after shack. Except for these mansions." He clicks over "they're five stories high, turreted, gates. Pagoda rooftops."

"I spoke to a federal task force looking into this. The traffickers make so much money, they build these huge houses. Their mothers live there, a few guards, and the children." Amanda elaborates.

"Children of kidnapped girls." I add on with a shake of my head.

"So there have mansions in Mexico. How's this help us take down this crew?" Finn asks, wanting to get to the point.

"I'm just getting to that. The task force was able to ID three owners. The first, shot to death in Tijuana last April. The second is a relative of a respected member of the town council. And the third they claim is somewhere in the U.S., possibly New York. Teodoro Juarez, 35."

Olivia interrupts once the photo is on the screen "son of a bitch."

"Am I missing something?" Barba asks not following.

I drop my head with more shakes "that's Angel." Sonny explains. "Must have vandalized his own office.

"Teodoro Juarez is known to us as Angel Perez." I say flatly. "He owns Quickride, the car service the girls use."

"So he wasn't just transporting, he's trafficking." Barba says, already working the lawyer angle.

"Problem is," Amanda tells him "no one's gonna testify to that. He's ruthless, he doesn't think twice about kidnapping young girls, raping them, and holding their babies hostage."

Olivia stops her "hold on. That might be our way in. These girls, they've given up on themselves. But what about the babies? Does the task force have eyes on the ground?" She goes over to the board.

"And in the air." Barba tells us.

"So can they tell us how many kids are hidden inside Angel's mother's house. And who they are?" She asks, hoping for a good respond.

Barba smirks "Mmmmhmmm." He leaves us, already pulling out his phone to make the phone calls he needs to make.

The next day we get ready to move in on Angel. We got statements from the girls, Tino, and Selena and all we need now is him behind bars. We all gear up and pull up to his house as he and his wife are packing up a car. Sonny yells out first "Police! Don't move."

I call out to the women "You! Hey! Put your hands up!"

Finn hollers to Angel "put 'em on that car!"

Sonny and I take the wife. Olivia sends Amanda and some officers inside "secure the house! Go around back!"

Angel spits out towards us "what is this? I told you, I'm not talking to you."

Olivia answers back to him "we have a warrant."

"Keep your hands up where we can see 'em." Finn directs him, pushing him up against the car.

"You can't do this. He's done nothing wrong!" His wife cries to him.

Sonny and I keep her away from them "don't make this hard." I tell her.

Olivia talks to him, let's him know what happened. "It's over, Angel. We arrested your mother in Tenancingo for kidnapping. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you" She starts to go over his rights.

"Mira, call the lawyers." He calls back to his wife.

"I will." She calls back to him, semi fighting us to get closer to him.

Although Angel lowers his voice, it's clear what he is saying "you know this is stupid, right? I know where you live. I know about that baby. From one parent to another, you don't want to do this."

Finn calls him out "you threatening my sergeant's kid?"

Mira gets away for a moment "you can't do this! He hasn't done anything!"

Sonny calls to her, both him and I grabbing at her again "Ma'am! - Get back!"

Within seconds we hear a gun shot and Sonny and I push his wife to the ground, protecting her. "Detective?" I call to Sonny next to me.

"I'm good, you good?" He asks me back.

"Good.' I say to him.

We both look up and see Angel slumped down on the ground, a bullet to his heart. Finn and Olivia have there guns drawn to him, but Finn's is the one with smoke coming off of it. His wife wails with tears as she realizes her husband is dead. Sonny and I lift her up, moving her away from the body and towards the front door.

"Everyone okay?" Amanda comes from inside the house.

I nod to her "We're good here, go help Olivia."

She leaves to go over things with our Sergeant while Sonny and I maintain control over the inconsolable women. More officers arrive, along with CSU and IAB. We finish whatever reports we have to there and make our way back to the precinct to start paperwork.


	9. Chapter 9: A Player's Game

"Hello?" I answer my cell. I nod to what Sonny says over the phone to me "yea, we got it." I tell him and hang up. "We got a case, involving some big basketball star." I tell the two of them who eye each other with wonder. I can tell before they ask that they want to know who so I repeat the name "Shakir."

The entire ride back to the precinct is filled with Finn and Rollins talking about how much of a star he is in the game. We get to the station and Olivia comes out of her office and over to where we are "Maddison, I want you in on the interview with me. Finn, take Rollins with you to interview his manager. Let's tread lightly with them, don't need to get any lawyers involved yet."

We all leave the pen and I join Olivia in waiting for the girl to arrive for questioning. When she gets here, we escort her to the interview room and close the door behind us. "Do I have to talk about this?" She asks, clearly shaking by everything that happened.

I tell her "well, we have a video of you attacking Shakir, so if he presses charges, this might help"

The girl interrupts me "if he presses charges? He assaulted me!" Her voice is shaky.

I tilt my head a little "it didn't look that way on the tape."

Olivia adds on though "she's not talking about today. Are you, Carla?"

"No. I'm talking about Memorial Day" the girl says lowly in return.

"Three months ago?" I ask, moving over in front of her.

"Carla, why don't you have a seat?" Olivia suggests and she moves to the couch.

"A summer kick-off in the Hamptons." She takes a seat. "I drove Shakir back to the city and he invited me to his hotel for a nightcap."

I ask "at the bar, or did you go to his room?"

"The last thing I remember... Was having a drink with him at the hotel bar. One drink. I woke up in his room. In his bed, naked and sore."

Olivia asks her more questions "did you go to the hospital afterwards, or call a doctor?"

"No." She answers looking away. "What was I gonna do? I don't remember anything."

"What made you decide to confront him today, at a press event?" I ask.

"There was a problem with his car, and so I was told to get Shakir back to his hotel. It triggered me. Look, this is a mistake, okay?" She opens her hands, almost freaking out. "There's nothing that you guys can do about it, and I'm probably gonna lose my job as it is..."

Olivia stops her "hold on, hold on, one sec. What do you mean by that, "lose your job"?"

"Are you serious?" She asks in a husky voice. "Shakir Wilkins is the face of Orion Bay. It's like peeing on Mount Rushmore. I mean, Mr. Bauer said it back then: "No good can come from this."

I interrupt her from going on "you told Mr. Bauer about the rape?"

"Yes, he said that maybe I was confused, or that... my feelings were hurt because Shakir didn't send flowers. Mr. Bauer said that if I kept the conversation between us, he'd recommend a bonus every time that my name came up."

Olivia asks "and Carla, can you... Prove that?"

She nods "last week I got $5,000."

I look to Olivia who looks to me with a knowing glare. I take out my phone and text Finn and Rollins the information we were just given.

We meet up back at the precinct to go over everything we gathered so far. We re-watch the video of Carla attacking Shakir again, slowing it down for better view. "Look, something set Carla off." Olivia says out loud once we stop it.

"It happened three months ago. But she waits until all the hotel video's been erased and she's got a lobby full of press?" Sonny says out loud.

"Putting on a show for the security cameras." I add on his comments, agreeing with him "Shakir thinks it's a shakedown. He's going through a divorce."

Olivia shuts us down "come on, guys, I don't want to hear that women lie, and that Shakir is a hero and he never could have done such a thing. This is SVU, and we take disclosures seriously."

Sonny and I look at her then each other while nodding. Amanda says "copy that, sergeant, but... For what it's worth? Shakir's been a public figure for what, 20 years? There's never been a whisper about anything like this, this is just like coming out of nowhere." She keeps her eyes rotating between the three of us.

"And, this girl can't remember any details." Sonny says.

"Exactly." Finn adds on.

"Guys, we've had cases where athletes drug women." She catches Amanda looking down "Rollins, are you with us?"

She slowly responds "Uh... yeah... it's... My old captain in Atlanta." She now looks back up to us. "A girl down there claims that Shakir did the same thing to her after seeing him on the news."

"Ah. They're piling on now, huh?" Finn whistles out.

"Okay, so, go get on a plane and talk to the girl." He tells Amanda. Amanda agrees, they exchange a few words and she leaves the office.

Two days goes by and we have a third witness claiming rape. Only this time she has the panties she wore to prove it. Rollins and Barba met with him and his attorney, getting the news that he does finally admit to having sex with them. "Okay, now Shakir is saying he did have sex with all three of them?" I ask out loud, rolling my eyes at the change of story.

"Let me guess, it was consensual." Olivia adds on with a bit of sarcasm in her tone.

Sonny speaks up "it's possible. I had two girls claim their dad molested them, just to get him to pay their student loans off."

"No rape kits. No outcry at the time. Barba's really gonna go forward with this?" I ask, looking to Olivia. I know I should be on the side of the victims here but it just seems to convenient for them that this all comes out now.

Amanda stands up, clearly disagreeing "give it a rest, guys. I didn't want to believe it either. But we've got three consistent stories, and there's no evidence that the women compared notes."

"They may be just after money." Finn says "they already got it from Bauer."

"To keep quiet about being assaulted." Amanda adds on reminding him.

"You want an outcry witness? Bauer's your guy." Olivia says.

Sonny pipes on "good luck! You think Orion Bauer's gonna tank Shakir?" She shakes his head with a small smirk "Mm-mm. I'm predicting health problems, mini stroke, something."

Olivia steps closer to the board "we have him on witness bribery charges. That gives us leverage. In the meantime, let's vet the three complainants" She points out to the women pinned up there "money issues, personal histories, and any previous false accusations."

Sonny calls Mr. Bauer and asks him to come into the office. He lets us know he will call his daughter, whom is also his attorny and come in as soon as possible. Within 2 hours, Sonny and I are sitting across from them in the same room I took Clara's statement in. "Mr. Bauer, we're proceeding forward with this case." I start off explaining to him. "We will need you to testify at the trial-"

"No, no." He interrupts me from explaining further. "I won't testify against Shakir! It's not just the money, he's been loyal!" He looks to his daughter then back to us. "Have you read his autobiography? I don't even know if he's read it, but the point is: He's an inspiring story."

His daughter slows him down "hey, dad, listen, we're on their court now. All right? Let us listen to what they have to say."

"Mr. Bauer, we've got three credible vics with consistent stories. You're an outcry witness in all three cases." I explain to him as kindly and simply as I can.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asks.

His daughter explains "that means that they all came to you, dad."

"Because I'm like a father to everyone in this company." He argues.

Sonny builds off that "and like a father, when they came to you they said they'd been attacked, you gave them money, and you told them to keep quiet. You're on the hook here. Ask your daughter."

She loos to us "if my father testifies to what these women said, is that in exchange for charges not being filed against him?"

"Charges for what?" He asks shocked.

"You paid them, Mr. Bauer!" I say back in a loud firm voice.

"Those were bonuses." He denies our claim.

Sonny questions it "a week before Shakir's contract was to be renewed?"

He elaborates his side of things "we renewed his contract two months ago. The only reason we kept it secret is because we wanted to announce in the fall."

His daughter goes on "Dad, dad... Listen. As painful as this is, you have got to let Shakir go. No matter what happens, he cannot work for Orion Bay anymore. Do you hear me?"

He hesitates, not wanting to let her words sink in. "I just... I... I didn't see this coming."

I look to Sonny who looks to me, knowing we have him. "I know." His daughter replies. We stand up to leave, knowing Barba and Olivia will come in and finish the rest.

"You must think I'm an old fool." I hear him say to her as we close the door behind us.

"We have him, now what do we do?" I ask Sergeant.

"Call the girls, tell them we're moving forward with the trial." She tells us. We end up arresting Shakir the next day and prepare the girls for court.


	10. Chapter 10: Words & Accusations

During the process of the trial it was revealed that one of the witnesses was paid to say Shakir raped her by Mr. Bauer. Barba called us, almost out of his mind claiming we didn't vett the girls hard enough and to figure this whole thing out and fast. Olivia calls us in for overtime and we meet together to go over what we know. "Keep it." Sonny pays the delivery man and takes the pizza box from him. "So Carla and Macie-Lynn aren't changing their stories."

He drops the box on the table "they definitely got paid more. Is that for all of us?" Rollins asks.

He goes to open the box "oh, yeah. Goat cheese and sun-dried tomato."

Finn, Rollins and I eye the pizza. "I made you for a pepperoni guy." Finn comments.

"I'm full of surprises." Sonny replies with a smirk.

"Don't let that goat cheese get caught in that stache of yours" I joke and chuckle taking a slice.

Sonny laughs as well but gets back to the job "this whole case is a crock. I mean, I kinda called it. Hello?"

"Yeah, we still don't know what happened." Rollins disagrees.

"How do you ever really know what happened? I mean, a man and a woman, alone in a room... There's a hundred different stories how that plays out and most of them aren't criminal." Sonny says to us all. "Not good, either."

Olivia comes over to us and asks him "Carisi, remind me why you're SVU, again?"

"I worked homicide, couple years. It's... it's the women who get you." He starts to explain, truly knowing what he is saying is how he feels. "I mean, they're dead, but... But their hair's clean, they're nicely dressed, they're made up. And that means their husbands or their boyfriends did it. It's like they knew. They knew it was coming, they don't even look surprised. Just... Just finished." He looks to me when he finishes his story. It's silent for a few moments before he adds on "it doesn't, you know, make me treasure every moment or any of that crap, but..."

"Okay." Olivia breaks the silence "meanwhile, Carla Cannon is on her way up."

"Will she hold or will she fold, huh?" He says, picking his tone back up. "I got this." He stands up.

"Grey, go with him." She tells me and the two of us walk to get ready for her.

I meet her at the elevator, thanking her for coming in on such short notice and playing into her every move.

"Tell me again what happened?" Sonny asks as soon as she sits.

She looks frantically between the two of us "he raped me. I don't remember the details, just that I had a drink and when I woke up I was naked in his bed and sore."

"So you went to Mr. Bauer?" I remind her of the details, playing the good cop.

She nods "he told me it was okay, it was a misunderstanding. We talked about my future at his company. I thought everything would be okay after that, he would move me where I wouldn't have to work with him anymore." She gets out in a hurry.

"But you already got money once from Orion Bauer, right?" Sonny pushes her hard.

She nods agreeing to what he said. "Yes, to keep quiet, but I couldn't get over what Shakir did to me."

Sonny harshly tells her "you're in a lot of trouble if you're lying here, Carla."

"No, actually, you're not, Carla." I sit closer to her "listen to me. The important thing is that you come clean now."

She shakes her head again "Shakir raped me. I swear to God."

I look to Sonny who looks to me and we know to leave the room as she is frazzled. Olivia is meeting us outside the door "she won't change her story." I say once the door is closed. "Where do we go from here?" I ask her.

"Wait and see what everyone else says." She moves to go back to her office.

"What's going on?" I ask as Olivia calls us into her office the next morning. "Rollins and I just came from Barba's office. We we're played a tape of Mr. Bauer confessing to paying off the girls to claim Shakir raped them. We're uhhh, dropping all the charges." She tries to simply explain.

"Wait, what?" I spit out loud "he paid them off. Are we going after him?" I ask, knowing how many hours we all spent on this case.

She shakes her head "we're just going to meet Barba outside the courtroom in an hour and move on from this." She simply says, clearly telling us the conversation is over for now.

We walk over to the court house and wait for them to leave the room. Barba comes out after Shakir's attorney. "I'm gonna go upstairs and- duck calls." He ducks away before the crowd of reports gets too busy.

"So Bauer just gets away with this." I ask again, wanting some kind of justice in all of this.

"My bet?" Olivia responds "a tape like that? Sooner or later it comes out."

"Well, what about these three girls? They lied, under oath. They just get to skate?" Sonny asks as well, clearly not happy with that. He may be new to the squad now but we both still have questions regarding how things go here.

"General policy for the D.A. is when you go after girls when a case falls apart, it can prevent real victims from coming forward next time." Olivia explains to us.

"I get that." Sonny says.

I nod, trying not to roll my eyes. Amanda comments "yeah, usually I do, but this time?" I nod with her now, agreeing with that sentiment. "Carisi, you were right about those girls all along." She gives him credit.

He doesn't accept it "not really. I missed Bauer paid them off. They were just his pawns."

I them off "like Shakir, like his daughter."

Rollins beats herselp up "I should have seen it. Just right in my blind spot."

"No, he was good. That old man act of his? He played us. What is that expression? "There are no accidental billionaires."" She deflects her train of thought.

We turn to see Cordelia and Shakir meeting, holding a tough conversation with all eyes watching. Afterwards, when he bows down his head and takes a seat, clearly distraught Finn breaks our silence "all that hate and they're still talking."

"Gotta be a tough conversation." Sonny agrees.

Amanda says "I know, right? Where to begin?"

I tell them what's going on, having gone through something myself. "One of them is saying: "Let's start over," and the other one is saying... "It's too late."


	11. Chapter 11: Famous Love

"Hey Grey, you see this?" Sonny asks me when I walk into the station one morning a few days later.

"This time, she's accused of leaving the scene of an accident." I go over to the television screen, catching the announcer talk about a famous actress. I shake my head "what's with these girls? Child stars at nine, sexual icons at 15, flame-outs by 20."

"Yeah, I know about this." Amanda comes over to us. "Tensley Evans, Nick told me, he caught the case."

"Nick? That guy's a disaster magnet." Sonny stands up and says to us.

Amanda stares at him, simply stating "I liked you better with the 'stache."

Sonny feels his face where his mustache used to be and looks to me with a sort of shrug. I shake my head disagreeing with her "oh no, you're way better off without it." I simply put it, actually admiring his face.

"Grey, Carisi get ready. Tensley is coming in with her lawyer." Benson calls out to us from her office.

We eye each other with an eye brow raise and prepare for the interview. She arrives dolled up with her lawyer and mother, ready for blood. We sit down in the room outside Benson's office and Sonny starts the conversation off easy "my nieces are huge fans of yours."

"You want an autograph?" The girl asks with an eye roll, rolling some hair between her fingers.

"You need a glass of water before we get started?" I ask her, moving along.

"How about a mimosa?" She asks with a snarky smile.

"Miss Evans, your here accusing someone of a serious offense. You can go to prison for everything that happened." I explain to her as simply as I can.

Her mother quickly jumps in "my daughter does not deserve to go to prison, she needs help."

Sonny continues off her statement "well, she was getting help. Which didn't actually seem to help."

"These are serious charges. Drunk driving, fleeing the scene, falsely accusing a police officer." I read off the list to them.

Tensley returns "why does everyone automatically assume I'm lying?"

"Because you are. You ever heard of Dash cam footage?" Sonny calls her bluff.

Tensley's eye open a bite wider and she pushes her lips together "Um..."

Her lawyer knows now to get a say in "all right, all right, my client was in an agitated state. Maybe she misinterpreted the officer's actions."

Her mom argues him "if Tensley says someone assaulted her, someone assaulted her!"

Her lawyer argues "Donna, Donna! Stop."

Tensley's breathing picks up "hey, mom, I don't feel well."

She quickly gets up and goes to her daughter, rubbing her hand down her back "breathe, baby, breathe. Breathe. Remember. She needs some water for her Xanax. Please, somebody!"

I nod to Sonny who comments "why don't you come with me, Mrs. Evans. I'm sure we can find a clean glass."

"Marvin!" She demands to her left.

"We'll be fine, Donna." He assures her.

She disagrees "I am not just her mother, I am her court-appointed-"

Tensley interrupts her "mom. Mom, mom, mom, guardian. Mom, it's not my nerves, it's my blood sugar, okay? I need a power bar.

She looks to her daughter, sighing reluctantly and Sonny gets up "all right. Okay, sweetie. All right, I'll go." The two of them leave the room and the three of us are left.

"Tensley," I start off "the night of the crash, you left rehab without notifying anybody."

She hesitates, looking down at her hands "I had to get out of there."

"But part of your probation is 60 days in rehab, mandatory. You can't just decide to leave on your own." I remind her.

"I can't. I can't go back, please." She looks generally upset "you don't understand."

"What, Tensley? What don't we understand?" The lawyer asks, wanting to know what we're missing.

She shakes her head "doesn't matter. Whatever I say, he'll just twist it around." She looks between the two of us.

"Who's "he"?" I push her more.

"I can't say. Please, don't make me say." She almost begs.

I shake my head answering her "we can't help you if you don't say."

"The psych director. Jim Durant. But he'll just deny it." She tells us.

"Deny what?" I ask lowly.

"At first he was really nice. He listened to me, and he even let me lay down on his couch in his office whenever I was overwhelmed, but... I should've known what he wanted. By now, I should know how all men are." She opens up.

"Got it." I say back to her, letting her know I understand.

Her lawyer sits up a bit in his chair "so, as you can see here, she's a victim." He looks at me, as if I'm going to believe every word she just said.

I open my mouth but stop before saying something too quickly. I slowly say back to them "alright, we'll go from here and look into Jim Durant. Okay? I ask, looking to the mirror for Benson's call to come out. She gives me the knock and Tensley's lawyer nods agreeing to what I offered. "Thank you." I whisper out as I stand up and leave then leave the room.

"What'd you get out of her?" Sonny asks once the mom goes back into the room.

I go over to say it lowly, not wanting to draw more attention to the girl "she's saying her therapist took advantage of their relationship."

"You believe her?" He asks me.

I shrug my right shoulder "maybe." I look to my side before looking back to him "I mean, you can't turn out to be that messed up without some kind of bad background. I just don't know if it happened as recent as she's saying."

"Well, let's see what Benson wants to do." He says and we walk towards her office.

She's standing, getting ready to leave the office with Amanda on her heels "Carisi, you'r with Rollins on the doctor. Tread lightly, he's a well respected." She goes off leaving the three of us behind.

Amanda turns back to us "let's go." She says to him with a sour grin "I'll drive."

A few hours later my phone rings with a call from Amanda "what's up?" I ask when I answer the call.

"We got some new information. We need you to get Nick and go interview some kid. I'll text you the details." She says trying to hang up the phone.

"A kid? What about?" I ask her before she could end the call.

She quickly utters to me "Tensley had a little closet session with a minor."

"Oh." I hum back "alright." I hang up and call Nick on his cell. "Hey, it's Maddison. You local?" I ask him.

"Sure, what do you got?" He asks me back.

"Amanda is sending me the information on some kid Tensley may have had contact with. They want us to go interview him." I explain.

"I can be there in 15." He tells me and I agree to the time, hanging up and getting my things together to meet him outside.

We drive to the Bronx and knock on the door to the small family home. "Hello?"

An older man greets us, I assume it's his father "Hi, Mr. Miller?" I ask as the door opens a bit and he eyes us.

"Yes?" He says questioning our appearance "can I help you?"

Nick and I pull out our badges "I'm detective Grey, this is Amaro. We're with the special victims unit, is your son home?" I ask.

He looks behind him then back to us "Uh yeah, what's this about?"

Nick steps a bit closer "we shouldn't discuss this outside Mr. Miller." He gives him a firm nod, letting him know this is serious.

He nods and lets us in. As we shut the door behind us we spot his son Gregory appear around the corner "have a seat." His dad directs him and he moves to the couch. We take our seats across from the two of them and Nick starts off "we're here to talk about what happened with Tensley Evans."

He tries to hide his recognition from his father but his dad sits uncomfortably in the chair and asks "who?"

"Gregory, do you want to tell him or should I?" I ask, knowing it'd be worse hearing it come from my mouth then his own.

He over exaggerates his sigh but goes over the incident "I was visiting mom. I ran into Tensley on the way out." He looks between us and his father. "I told her I was a big fan. She asked me if I had any weed, so... We got high."

His dad jumps in then "weed? Where the hell did you get weed?"

"I understand your concern, Mr. Miller, but we need to hear from your son exactly what happened." Nick encourages him to calm down. The dad looks upset but nods understanding.

The boy continues "and then she said she wanted to thank me. I didn't know what she meant, but then she pulled me into the supply closet, we kissed, and then she...gave me..." He hesitates. "Oral."

Nick and I look at each other then back to him. "Why didn't you tell me?" His dad asks appalled.

He looks at him like he has 10 heads "Seriously?"

"You're in a lot of trouble, son." Mr. Miller tells him sternly.

"Actually, Mr. Miller, your son's not in trouble." Nick informs him. "Tensley Evans is."

"For what?" He asks.

"Gregory's underage. The facility has security cameras, there's footage of Gregory and Tensley having sexual contact. He's the victim of a crime." I explain to them.

"No, I'm not." Gregory argues back "this is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me. Don't ruin it. I was just trying to be nice."

Nick looks to me again and I turn my eyes back to the family in front of me "I'm sorry but this is a serious matter, we can't just ignore it."

"Aw man." The boy slouches down into the couch with a glum look on his face.

His father stands up, so we follow "thank you for informing me. I'm assuming you'll be in contact?" He asks, walking us to the door.

"Yes, we will. Thank you Mr. Miller." Nick returns and we leave the house.


	12. Chapter 12: Old Tragedy

I sit in the courtroom the next day and listen to Tensley's attorney try to talk his way out of this. "Mr. Exley, your client is back in my courtroom again facing a serious charge." The judge looks to him shocked. "Should we install a revolving door?"

"Serious?" Tensley calls out "he's bragging on Facebook." She refers to the boy she hooked up with while in recovery.

Her lawyer whispers something to her and returns himself to the judge "your honor, miss Evans was in extreme emotional duress. Rather than prosecution, she needs a full psychiatric evaluation."

Barba argues "your honor, this is just another delaying tactic."

I look to Sonny who looks to me with wondering eyes "I wasn't aware you were a psychiatrist, Mr. Barba." The judge argues. "Mental illness is not something this court takes lightly. Psychiatric evaluation is so ordered." She looks at Tensley intently "but... miss Evans, you are still on probation. If you violate the law again, in any way, I will remand you." She bangs her gavel and we leave to head back to the precinct.

The next day Benson fills us in on the new information we received from Tensley. "She's a victim. We're not sure exactly of how much, but she was having sex with much older men. We need to look into this." She tells us as we sit down to meet.

"But it was consensual, what can we do about it now for her? And who is this guy?" I ask out loud.

"Adam Brubeck was the biggest teen producer out there. "Summer Days", "Five ways to play Hooky", "Farcity Blues" Rollins says, pointing him out on the board.

"I think I've heard of one of those" I semi shrug trying to remember if I've seen any of those movies.

"And according to Tensley," Benson goes on "Brubeck passed her around like a sex toy party favor."

"Explains why she's such a train wreck." Carisi adds in to the conversation.

Nick comes around the table "if she's telling the truth."

Amanda responds "Nick, I'm glad you're back, but really, you should have heard her."

"Well, she's an actress." He reminds her.

Barba agrees "Amaro's right. She could be playing you both."

"We had to pull it out of her, guys." Benson tells us. "This girl doesn't even know that she's been victimized."

Barba lays it out flatly "Gregory's father thinks that his son was, and there's video to back up that charge. I have to indict her."

Benson is taken back by this, as am I "Hold on, you do?" I ask him before he walks away.

"This is textbook mitigating." She says.

"And Exley is free to bring that up, when he tries to cut a deal." Barba simply returns and goes to leave.

"In the meantime, how about I take a run at Brubeck? See if he wets his pants." Carisi offers up. Barba quickly turns back around.

Amanda jumps on him "were you sick the day that they went over statute of limitations at law school?"

He answers "yeah, yeah, she's 24, which in New York is one year too late to charge statutory rape. Anybody want to explain to me why that law still exists?"

"You can thank the church lobbyists for that." Barba answers his question even though it seemed more rhetorical to me.

Nick adds on "the law's the law, all right? She needs to do time."

"And Brubeck doesn't?" I speak up now, not wanting this guy to get away with what he did, or is still doing.

"Look, whatever he did to Tensley, dollars to donuts he's still doing it to other girls." Sonny agrees, as if he was reading my mind.

"Great, are we going on a fishing trip?" Barba asks scarcastically.

Benson pushes him away "Barba, how about we pursue two tracks? You pursue yours, we'll pursue ours." She brings us back over to the board "now, I trust that this Brubeck is still producing?"

Rollins answers "oh yeah, he's been busy. Look, I'm checking his Twitter feed. He's in New York this weekend. Casting event for his new movie musical junior prom." Benson looks bewildered and we know we're going to make a visit.

We walk into the pool party, walking past someone with a clip board. As soon as we're inside, it's clear a lot of the girls here are underage. I look around for Brubeck when a young male comes over to us "Hey! NYPD! You guys are the best!" He indulges further "I did a drive-around with some homicide detectives last year. It was so awesome."

"Thanks. Mr. Brubeck around?" I say uninterested.

"Oh, he's in a cabana, but he's busy." He tells us.

"Which way?" Nick asks.

"Uh..." he looks around then points off.

"Excuse me." Nick pushes the kid aside a bit and we make our way towards the cabana he pointed too.

"Whoa! You just pushed Brody Clark!" Sonny says from behind me.

I look over my shoulder and ask "Who?" along with Nick.

"The breakout star of "Summer Daze"? And the "Knightmaster trilogy"?"

I roll my eyes "you would know that."

Amanda gets us back on track "I count at least two dozen underage girls in bikinis." She looks to us and the officers "you know, no one leaves. Start checking IDs."

"All right, you guys get that side, we'll take over here." Sonny points to two different sections. I walk off with him and lean down to a table of 2 girls and a man enjoying a beverage "ID's please." Sonny tells them.

The man sits up and smirks grotesquely "Come on man, we ain't doing nothing wrong." He spills a bit of his drink on the young girl next to him.

"ID's. Now." I say through gritted teeth.

He rolls his eyes and moves to the side of his chair to grab his I.D. One of the girls leaves to get her ID and another grabs it from her purse. "I'm 21." she says when she hands it to me.

"Right." I look at the ID and pass it back to her. We move to another table with more girls and older men drinking and ask for the same thing. I check all their ID's and Sonny comes back over to me "I got nothing." I tell him in a low voice so no one can hear.

"Same." He mutters and he nods to me to follow him.

We go over to where Brubeck just left his cabana and make our way to Nick and Amanda.

"There's no underage drinking, drugs, who knows..." Sonny starts off when we walk in. He catches on a bit after me that we walked in at the wrong time and spits out "sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No. No, we were just leaving." Amanda quicky replies and leaves the space.

"Oh. It uh... Just looked like something else." Sonny awkwardly says back.

I look at him with a semi-opened mouth as Nick stares him down before leaving. He mouths the word what to me with a shrug and I just roll my eyes trying to hide a smirk.

The next day we all go to Barba's office "So Adam Brubeck's casting party, no drugs, no underage drinking." He asks.

Nick answers with disdain "Nah, it was just a bunch of older men watching wet teenage girls in bikinis"

Barba responds to him "If being a letch were illegal, Beverly Hills would be in lock down."

I get out "look, he smart, he's careful, he's wised up."

Benson nods "what did he say about Tensley?

"Oh, he admitted that she came to his parties, at 13, but he blamed it mostly on the mom." Amanda tells us.

"You thought he'd confess to child rape?" Barba asks while looking over a paper his Secretary was showing him.

"We keep digging deeper, we're gonna find something." Sonny says "In fact, I made a few calls.."

Amanda interrupts him "yeah, you know what? So did I." She jumps right into what she found. "This is the research on Brubeck's former child stars. Okay, Tensley is not the only one that's crashed and burned. This is Bella Macy. She starred in "Teens in Space" at 12. She did an after school special, and then disappeared. She got arrested four years ago in Ohio for armed robbery."

We all look over at the pictures she shows us "Mm-hmm. Go on." Benson mumbles.

"This is Jordana Russo. She starred alongside Tensley in "Sophie Spade". She's now doing... porn. Now this is our friend Brody Clark."

Carisi adds on because she could continue "that guy used to be a complete mess. In and out of rehab for years."

"Exactly." Amanda agrees "the list goes on and on."

"Next question: Did any of them file a lawsuit, press charges?" Barba asks, knowing none of that really matters.

Sonny has something though "Actually, he was almost charged in L.A. We all give him a kind of questioning look. "I have an ex at LAPD. She told me an actress named Amber Forbes drowned at one of Brubeck's Beverly Hills pool parties, nine years ago."

"Drowned?" I Ask "how old was she?"

"She was 15." He answers. "The M.E. ruled it an accident, but there was alcohol and ecstasy in her system. Brubeck and Dennis were questioned by police. Also, on the witness list, Brody Clark."

"Okay, talk to Brody." She tells Sonny and Nick "find out what he knows."

"Grey, come with me to talk to Tensley." She looks at me and I nod, following her out of the ADA's office.

We get to her home and let in by her mother, whose already raging at us again " I don't know what you're doing here." She starts off. We move forward, going to follow Tensley and her lawyer. "Oh, did you know that Tensley's alleged victim is texting her? I guess he wants to be traumatized again."

"That's not what this is about." I assure her calmly.

"Tensley's aware you're here to talk about Amber Forbes, right?" Her lawyer looks to Tensley to encourage her to talk about it with us.

Benson starts off "We understand that you were at the party when she drowned?"

"Hold on, detective." He stops us from continuing

I interrupt him, knowing what he's going to say "that death was ruled accidental.

He answers "even so, my client needs to be immunized."

"And she's not a suspect, you have my word." Benson assures him.

"Okay. Uh, yeah. Yeah, I was there, but... That was forever ago and I'd really rather not go back to that time." She tells us, then looks to her mother. "I was in a lot of pain."

"Yes, I understand that, but we need to know, did you see Amber in the pool?" I ask in a soft voice, catching on to how uncomfortable she is.

"No. No, I don't want to talk about this." She gets up and storms away.

"Tensley, you okay?" Benson asks as she pushes past us.

"I'm gonna be sick." She mutters holding her stomach.

"Baby.-" her mother tries to soothe her.

Tensley yells back, pushing her arm away "don't touch me!"

Her mother turns to us "all right, this agenda of yours is destroying my daughter!"

"Our agenda?" I spit back, sick of her sitting on her high horse "you put her on the pill at 13."

She shakes her head back at us "it was her doctor's idea!"

I huff out a breathe "you didn't know what was going on at those parties."

Benson stops it from continuing "all right, that's enough."

"Detective. I love my daughter. I don't know what you two are up to, but I would like it if you would just leave." She tries to stay firm and collected while telling that to us.

"I'd like to talk to Tensley alone." I simply slip past her.

"I'll go with you." She tries to follow.

Benson steps in front of her, letting me find Tensley "no, you're not." I hear her say before turning the corner.

"Hey, Tensley." I knock on the door. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I wait for a response. "Tensley? Okay, Tensley, I'm coming in." I inform her. I move back a little and push on against the locked door with my shoulder. "Oh, sweetie." I rush in the bathroom once I see the blood dripping down her arms. "What did you do?" I ask, throwing a towel over her wrists. "What did you do?" Tensley whimpers and cries leaning into to me, shaking, "Shh, it's okay, sweetie. It's okay, I've got you." I try to soothe her.

"No, you don't..." She mutters back through her tears. "I told you, I didn't want to go back to that time."

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay. Hold that tight." I tell her and yell out to Benson "Liv, we need a bus!" I instantly hear feet moving towards us and Benson on her phone calling an ambulance to the house.

Her mother reaches us first "oh, my baby!" She squeals once in eye sight. "What did they do to you?!" She goes on dramatically coming over to her. She takes the place of where I am, holding her daughter, and I push down on the towel to stop the bleeding. We wait for the ambulance to arrive 15 minutes later and head back to the station.


	13. Chapter 13: Sent Off

Two days later I watch as Nick and Sonny interview Brody about that night. Sonny and Nick don't go easy on him, and he gives it up to us that he wasn't protective Brubeck's secret but his own. Turns out, Brody is gay. Olivia and Barba get their hands on flash drives full of recordings of girls audtioning for his movies. They are grotesque and disturbing to watch, focusing more on the girl's parts then their faces but we get through them all. The four of us look into every person on the tapes, every movie, every script to try and find something to use against this guy. "Look, Dennis gave us two more flash drives, we've gone through hours of this stuff." Nick pauses the video and tells Barba.

He asks back "is there anyone underage in these videos who's within the statute of limitations?"

I answer back "he's more clever than that. In the last nine years, all of Brubeck's movies have been shot in Pennsylvania, Washington or Montana." I say, learning a few things from Sonny.

"All states with an age of consent of 16, and a mistake of age defense." Carisi adds on to my explanation.

Barba stands up "meaning, the guy can have sex with a 14-year-old, and claim he thought that she was 16. He's too smart."

Amanda returns his statement with "he's been gaming the system ever since Amber died."

It's silent for a moment when Nick breaks in "all right, so that's it. We just give up?"

Olivia argues "oh, we're not giving up. This guy killed Amber Forbes. He has ruined countless lives. There has got to be a way to stop him."

"And yet, Brubeck's threading the loophole of legalities state by state." Barba tells her. "He keeps very good records, very thorough. He's got their D.O.B. On every audition video. Pennsylvania... Pennsylvania... Montana..." He flips through videos. He pauses at one in-particular and holds it up "what is this? "Winnipeg nights"? Who saw this tape?" He asks.

"I did." Amanda steps up "but it's not like an audition. It's more like foreplay."

"Was it shot in Canada?" He asks.

Carisi answers "the audition was, but the movie was never made."

Barba looks at Olivia, who catches on to whatever it is he's thinking of and hold on," she stands up "did he audition anybody else?"

"No, no, that's just the one girl, Maude Peterson." Amanda looks over at the disc "but she was 16."

"Okay, I need you two to get on a plane to Winnipeg." She directs them.

"Now? Right now." Nick asks a bit confused.

I look to her as well, just as confused. "I need you to talk to Maude, find out how she got this audition, if there was ever a script at all, and... How far he got with her." She tells us.

"How does that matter?" Carisi asks. "The age of consent in Canada is 16."

Barba answers "if the film was never made, and if he got lucky up there, we just got lucky too."

Amanda and Nick leave the room and Olivia turns to Barba "we need to subpoena the records for everything involved with that movie."

"I'm on it." He says turning to his phone.

3 days later Sonny and I watch as Olivia and and Barba take down Brubeck. "There was no movie. There was never any intention to make a movie. Your client traveled to Canada with the primary purpose of having sex with someone under the age of 18. A federal crime."

"He's good." I comment from behind the glass "I don't know how lawyers can remember all those laws." I shake my head turning away "you're screwed Carisi." I smirk at him.

"It isn't so bad." He says from behind me "it's actually pretty interesting stuff how all the laws came to be what they are." He explains.

I shake my head "I'll take your word for it and stick to enforcing the law."

The story breaks the news and a few days later Tensley is on Hoda giving an exclusive interview. "Carisi, Grey, in my office." Olivia calls out to us from the doorway. We look at each other with unknowing looks and go into her room. "Close the door." She directs and we do. "You two are signed up for a training in Quantico, you leave tonight." She tells us.

"What trianing?" Sonny asks.

I think about what day it is and knowingly nod "The FBI is doing a training on behavior of serial killers. It's 4 days long." I tell him.

Olivia nods "Right, and you two are on the next flight out of JFK so I suggest you go home and pack." Her phone rings and she excuses us out of her office so she can take it.

The two of us head back into the pen, Sonny asks "you been to this training before?"

I shake my head "No, but my father used to be a part of the team that teaches it. It's a big thing every year."

"Your father was a part of the FBI?" He questions.

I nod my head "He was recruited into the BAU right after they started the unit."

Olivia rushes out of her office "I'm sorry, can you turn that off, please?" Her face is pale and she looks confused. "Amaro, I need you to hold down the fort for a second." She starts to walk off.

"Is everything all right?" Nick asks.

She responds instantly, barely looking back "I don't know. Noah's in the E.R."

The rest of us look at each other with worry. Noah is Olivia's entirely world, she must be going through the ringer trying to get to the hospital to see him and figure out what's wrong. "Should we go?" I ask out loud, worried about Noah.

Sonny shakes his head "No, we have a plane to catch. Amanda and Nick will deal with everything here."

"We can do the training next year Sonny, we should be here for our Lieutenant." I try to convince him we'd be better off here then there.

He doesn't go for it "the bureau would not be happy with that waste of money. Come on, they got it covered." He nods his head towards the doors.

"It's fine Maddison, go ahead. I'll keep you updated." Amanda tells me.

"Fine. Keep us posted." I say to her, letting her know I will hold her to her word. Sonny and I leave the precinct and take one car. We go to my apartment first, being closer to the station and Sonny waits the 20 minutes it takes for me to pack. We drive to his next, and I wait in the bad air conditioner of the car as he takes 40-50 minutes to get his things and get back. "Sheesh, bring enough clothes?" I ask sarcastically as he hangs his things in the back seat.

"You have to pack suits just right or they'll crease." He returns as he hops back into the drivers side. "Let's go." He puts the car in drive and heads towards JFK. We get through security within an hour and get on the flight with a few minutes to spare "so tell me why you'd give up flying on private planes with the bureau for coach seats for the NYPD?" He asks me making small talk.

"I always wanted to follow in my dads footsteps and join the FBI, but after what happened to my mother, I just couldn't imagine putting my family in that kind of danger." I tell him truthfully.

"Your family?" He asks.

"Well, the family I want to have one day." I correct myself. He nods, pushes his lips together as if he wants to ask something. I know what it is, and answer it for him "there was a serial killer who came after my mother and I when I was 15. She was killed."

"Oh wow, I'm so sorry Maddison." He says lowly.

I tap him on the arm "it's fine, really. It was a long time ago." I grin "and I also hate flying!" I say through my teeth as the plane picks up speed to take off.

He kind of chuckles as it happens "you're afraid of flying? You're more likely to get struck by lightning then go down in a plane."

"Not helping Sonny." I grit through my teeth again, gripping onto the sides of the seat.

"I can tell." He replies, looking down. I look down when he does and see my hand gripping over his.

"Sorry." I mutter back, still unable to release my hand though as the planes wheels get off the ground and it flies into the air, a bit wobbly. When the plane is finally steady in the sky I release my hand and put it in my lap "sorry" I mutter again, breathing more calmly.

"it's all good." He replies back.

He looks at me with a sideways grin and I can't place what he's thinking "what?" I push, wanting to know.

"Nothing, it's just funny that you're afraid of flying." He tells me.

"Shut up." I roll my eyes largely and open the book I brought to read.

We land in Virginia and exit the plane, only having the bags we brought on the plane as carry on's. As we hit the escalator I spot the white sign with my last name on it. I roll my eyes knowing my father set this up. My eyes roll even more when I see he is the one holding the sign, a big smile on his face. "MaddyCaddy!" He beams once my feet hit the hard floor.

I lower my face to hide the blushing of the nickname and go over to give him a hug "Hi dad." I mutter as we embrace for a hug. "What are you doing here?" I ask once we release our embrace.

"I couldn't let anyone else pick up my little corn muffin the first time she sets back home after becoming a big bad New York City detective." He tries and hides his disappointment when he says the last part. "Leaving behind the bureau for that job." He gets in his zinger before I get a chance to respond.

"It's good to see you too dad." I ignore the comments. "This is my partner, Detective Carisi." I introduce the two of them.

"Dominick Carisi Jr. sir, call my Sonny." He reaches his hand out to shake it.

"Donald Grey, it's nice to meet you." There hand shake is short but firm "hope you're taking care of my little peanut up there in the city." He assures him.

"Dad." I roll my eyes "can you take us to our hotel please, the training starts promptly at 7."

"Nonsense, you're staying at home." He wraps his arm around me to pull me away.

Sonny steps next to me, quickly to scoop my bag from my hand "here let me."

"Dad, we are not staying at home. We have 2 rooms reserved by the department, really, it's fine." I try to convince him to let us go to our hotel, even though I know he won't budge on his decision.

"The department doesn't need to pay for it. Now, stop arguing and let's get some food." I look to Sonny over my shoulder for some back up but he just shrugs his shoulders back. We get to the car and drive to my fathers favorite Italian restaurant for dinner.


	14. Chapter 14: Old Friends

"Thanks for your help, Dominick!" I roll my eyes at him once we are back at my old home and my father has retired to go to sleep.

Sonny laughs a little, keeping his voice low "I'm not going to stand up to an FBI agent, you crazy?" He asks, his smile still wide.

"Retired FBI!" I remind him.

"What's the big deal?" He asks back "Now we can sleep in beds that aren't stained and take a shower with good pressure. I'm fine with it." He says like that's that.

"But it's not your dad's house we're staying at. Ugh, you're annoying." I roll my eyes yet again and walk out of the living room and towards my old bedroom.

"Night Maddy!" Sonny calls back to me and I turn to give him a death glare at the nickname he used. I see him try to hide the smile and laughter and continue storming away from him.

I close the door to my room and get ready for bed. I set the alarm and hop into the queen size bed. I fall asleep almost as soon as my head hits the pillow. "Grey, wake up!" A call from outside my bedroom door wakes me up.

I hear my alarm next to me going off and turn it off, grumbling towards my door "come in" I mutter.

"You always such a heavy sleeper?" Sonny asks me, fully dressed and already set to go.

I rub my eyes "Yeah, I'm a a pretty heavier sleeper. I'll be ready in 15." I look at the clock on my wall.

"Make sure your brush out that rat's nest." He points towards me and shuts the door on his way out.

15 minutes later I am in the kitchen, pouring some coffee into a travel mug and heading to the training. My father has already gone for the day, retired but still consulting for the FBI. "Just so you know, I'll probably know every agent here today. They'll be a lot of hand shaking for you." I give him a heads up.

"You really grew up around everyone in Washington?" He asks.

"I've met a president or two, yah." I beam sarcastically as if it's something most people brag about. He chuckles back and the rest of the drive consists of him asking me questions about the FBI.

As soon as we walk into the building I am met with agent Livingston and Agent Morgan "Little Maddy Grey! How are you doing?" Livingston comes over and hugs me.

"Hi Michael!" I say to him. "Hi Derek." I look over to an old friend.

"Long time Maddison." He smiles his perfect smile towards me and embraces me in a long hug. "Surprised to see you back here."

"Oh, I'm sure my father had some strings pulled to get me here for this training." I smile as we part and turn to introduce them to Sonny "this is my partner, Sonny Carisi." He shakes hands with the two of them.

"I hope you're taking care of this girl in the big apple, it could be a scary place." Morgan comments to him.

I slap Morgan on the arm "you know well enough I can take care of myself."

He chuckles in response "you sure can. It's good to see you Maddison." He squeezes my arm just a bit and him and Michael leave the two of us standing there.

"Better get signed in." I turn to Sonny who is looking at me strangely "what?" I ask a bit self conscious.

He just shrugs and walks away towards the sign in desk. 15 minutes later we are in our seats and waiting for the training to get started. Morgan and Michael walk out into the room and everyone sits up, ready to learn more about the behavior of serial killers. Unfortunately, Morgan calls on me more than enough times to answer questions the other agents and detectives can't answer. They dismiss us for an hour lunch at 11:30 and Sonny and I make our way to the cafeteria "why would they send you here? It sounds like you could teach the class." Sonny asks once we are seated.

I take a bite and wait to answer till I finish chewing "my father probably called the department, told them about the training. Gave them enough spots for NYPD officer's to make sure I was one of them."

"So, you and your father don't get along?" He asks with food in his mouth.

I shrug my right shoulder "I mean, we have our differences. He doesn't understand why I would not want to be in the FBI. He lives and breathes the department, wanted everything he had for me." I say.

"Doesn't he understand though, after what happened to your mother?" He asks me.

"Whenever I try to talk about it with him he shuts it down, won't go into it." I explain further, putting it more on my dad than me.

He keeps eating "can you blame him?" He asks, "I bet he's torn up about what happened."

"Yea, but I do blame him." I spit out before I can shut my mouth.

Sonny drops his fork, wipes his mouth and looks at me " you wanna talk about it?"

I shake my head "definitely not. I just wanna get through these next 3 days without fighting with him."

"I'll do what I can to help." He picks his fork back up and continues eating. After we finish eating we return to the room to prepare to start the second session. A few moments before it starts I spot Morgan sneak in the back row of the seats.

I excuse myself past Sonny and go over to where Morgan is sitting, rubbing his chin with his hand "shouldn't you be up there?" I ask him.

"I got someone covering this half of the presentation." He smiles at me, raising his eyebrows two times. I eye him but I soon notice my old flame Spencer come out onto the stage. "Morgan." I whisper and nudge him. He tries to hide his laughter by faking a cough. "Why?" I ask, trying to hide my smile. Things ended amicably between us but I was told it wasn't easy for Spencer to move on. I was his first girlfriend after Mauve died, and when he loves, he loves with everything he has.

"Shh." He hushes me as the presentation starts.

I push him once more in the shoulder and quickly make my way back to my seat next to Sonny "everything okay?" he asks me once I'm seated.

I look apologetically to the few people looking around me and respond back "just a little game, it's all good."

A little while into his lecture a person asks a question about a recently caught female serial killer. Spencer takes the opportunity to ask the audience a statistical question. "Does anyone know what the statistic is for female serial killers?" He asks.

The crowd is quiet and I can see the smile growing on Spencer's face. Although I hate to burst his smart little bubble this is a fact I do know and say it out loudly enough for everyone to hear "9.2%"

"Exactly! Who said that?" He looks into the crowd, trying to see past the lights shining down on him. "Maddison?" He asks once he see's me.

"Hi agent." I say, keeping a calm composure as everyone around stares at us.

"Uhm." He coughs, getting back to his lecture "Yes, 9.2% of serial killers are women." He keeps going, his pace quickening as he goes forward. He occasionally looks towards where I am sitting, barely able to see me over the bright lights. About 3 hours later "we're a bit early to dismiss, does anybody have any questions?" He asks.

A few hands go up and he along with Michael and Morgan answer them easily. At the end of the applause the lights go up and I stand up along side Sonny. "I should go say hi." I mutter under my breath to Sonny.

"Sure." He says, walking down the few steps towards the floor where they are standing and shaking hands. "Great lecture." Sonny reaches his hand out to shake Spencer's.

Spencer looks down at his hand then back to his face "Thank you." He says.

I come out from behind Sonny "he doesn't like to shake hands, he has a thing with germs." I inform him, going past to give him a hug. "Hi Spence" I say wrapping my arms around him.

"Hey Maddison, I didn't know you were coming to this." He says back awkwardly.

When I release I look up to meet his eyes "I was thinking my father has something to do with me being here but now I'm thinking Morgan had something to do with it." We both look over to our friend who is smiling wide as he steals glances our way while talking to another officer.

"Damn it Derek." I hear him mutter under his breathe. "Well, I'm glad you both can be here, it's a great seminar."

"It sure is." I respond "you did well up there." I encourage him "you look good." I also add on.

"Thanks. You do too." He says back. Spencer catches on to Sonny's awkward stance and re introduces himself "Dr. Reid." He smiles with a nod "did you enjoy the lecture?" He asks him.

"Yes, very much. You guys are really quiet amazing." Sonny flatters him.

Spencer goes to respond but Morgan comes over, wrapping his arm around Spencer with a wide grin "what do we all say to grabbing a bite to eat?"

"I uhh, I don't know." I respond, not wanting to make Spencer uncomfortable.

"Oh come on, get a bite with your old friends." Morgan puts on the guilt "you left us once, don't do it again."

"Fine." I fake smile to hide the real one. "We'll meet you guys at The Pub in an hour." I say to the two of them and they nod their heads to agree. Sonny and I leave and make our way to the car. "You don't have to come to this Sonny." I say as we get in.

"Of course I do, I can pick the brains of two FBI agents who are in the BAU unit, one whose clearly a genius. It'll be great!" His smile is wide "I've read about him, he's a wiz!"

"You would say that." I roll my eyes at his random fanboying moment. "So, is there a history between you and one of these two?" He asks without hesitation. I eye him from the side and he asks "or both of the two?"

"Excuse you," I correct him "no I was not with both of them." He looks to me like I wasn't saying everything and I sigh out reluctantly "I dated Spencer for a little over a year, happy?" I ask sarcastically.

"Bad blood?" He asks.

I shake my head "not at all. I was offered a job at the BAU for when I graduated but we knew that wouldn't work, it just wasn't going to last." I explain briefly "but it's okay, we've been broken up for a few months now and I heard he might have already moved on!" I say, remembering the text I got from Penelope a few weeks ago.

"And are you?" He asks.

I am taken back by his question and answer "I guess, yah."

"You don't sound to confident about that." He returns.

"No, I am." I say back, just now realizing how true it is. "Things are going good in New York, I'm happy there." I confirm to him.

"Good, I don't need a new partner." He says back with a smile as I drive to my old home so we can change and make it to dinner on time.


	15. Chapter 15: Drinking Buddies

"So, what's it like working in New York?" Morgan asks us once we sit down at the table and order drinks.

"There's never a dull moment!" Sonny tells him. "We just closed a case on a producer who's been rapin' young girl for years. Took him down on a law no one but a lawyer would know about." He tells him.

"So, you think it's better than the BAU?" Morgan asks, taking a sip of the beer that was just placed down and eyeing me with a devilish grin.

Sonny looks to me as he sips his beer to answer "Now, I never officially worked at the BAU so how would I know?" I tease.

"You were interning for a few months while in training." Spencer reminds me "that's when we met." He adds on awkwardly like he does.

I smile looking down into my drink "yes, but it wasn't really a job, I did more learning than working." I remind the two of them.

"Alright, alright you two. Sonny, how long have you been at special victims?" Morgan asks him changing the subject much to my happiness.

"About 3 months, I started a few weeks after Madison did." He tells them.

I add on "he was bounced around 3 different bureaus before landing in Manhattan! I'm pretty sure you're still on probation." I remind him smiling, taking a sip from my glass of wine.

"I don't think they'd send a detective to a seminar if they were planning on shipping me to another precinct." He argues "Besides, you'd never let that happen, would you Grey?" He asks.

"Never" I say sarcastically. "Speaking of letting things happen." I look back to Morgan "how did you manage to make sure I was assigned to this training Morgan?" I push him, knowing it was him. He keeps his face on mine with a grin and doesn't answer so I keep pushing "come on, give it up!" I push further.

His eyes avert to behind Sonny and I and his smile grows wide "I had some help." He tells us.

I look back and find myself laughing when I meet the eyes of Penelope coming towards us "I should've known." My smile is wide and I stand up to greet her "Hey Penelope!" I squeeze her as hard as we hug.

"Are you mad?" She asks once we part "I didn't want to get involved in their game but I did want to see you, please say you're not mad. I can't stand it if you were, then I would be anxious and when I get anxious I -"

I stop her from her rant "I'm not mad, I can't be mad at you!" I confess.

"Oh good!" She exhales.

"Hey, Babygirl." Morgan waves his fingers to her.

Spencer sits up taller "you're involved in this now Penelope, watch your back, you know what I'm capable of."

"Oh, come on Spencer, give her a break! She missed me!" I say to him sitting back down and pouting at him, hoping they don't invoke Penelope in their little prank war.

"Whose this vanilla latte with cream?" She asks once she see's Sonny. Her bright pink lips are spread wide apart in a smile "Hi, I'm Penelope Garcia, but you can call me.." She bites her lower lip while reaching her hand out "whatever you like." She finally says as he reaches back across the table.

"Dominick Carisi Jr, call me Sonny. It's nice to meet you, do you work at the BAU as well?" He asks her with wide eyes.

"She's the brains and the beauty behind everything." Morgan gushes over his best friend.

"I'm just the geek." She pushes him and tells Sonny.

"So you managed to get Madison here using your geeky ways? You do have brains and beauty." He compliments her. "But I'm not sure I follow why?" He admits.

"The last I remember Spencer pulled a prank on Morgan. Something to do with replacing all of his music with the sounds of him screaming?" I look to Spencer for confirmation.

Spencer nods with a small smirk at the memory of the prank. Morgan speaks up "I mean this isn't a solid prank, but it was worth it to see you here again Grey." He winks at me. "I'll take whatever pretty boy wants to dish out after this."

"Me too!" Penelope agrees. The waitress returns and takes her drink order and brings the rest of us but Spencer another round. "How is New York? Are you hating it? Are you coming back?" She asks in a hurry, like if she doesn't get it now she'll never get it out.

"I'm very happy in New York, sorry guys." I say simply, not wanting to hurt their feelings.

Penelope adds on "I can see why" She looks directly to Sonny "I might have to take a few trips there myself."

Sonny lowers his head with a blush and I try to back her off from embarrassing him too much "alright, calm down. You're going to make Morgan jealous." I tease their fun friendship. "I'm surprised you're all able to be here. Isn't there a case you should be working on or something?"

"Well this seminar has been set up a while. Hotch and Rossi took some recruits on a case in Florida, like what you did last year." Morgan explains.

"That's right." I snap my fingers remembering "So, you have any good new recruits?" I ask the three of them.

"Forget about work, let's talk about something else!" Penelope gushes "Like why don't you two talk about how you met and how this relationship got started?" She motions between Sonny and I.

"Us?" I ask as we look to each other with wide eyes "no, we are not dating Penelope." I assure her.

She smiles back "and I'm not a profiler" She rolls her eyes teasingly.

I go to say something back but our waitress comes and takes all of our food orders. I want to reiterate to everyone that we are not dating but I don't know how to bring it back up in conversation without making it awkward. Luckily, Morgan goes off to talk about a softball game he and Spencer are playing in next week before I could make a fool of myself in front of everyone. A few hours go by before Sonny and I go our separate ways from the 3 BAU members and back towards my old home.

"You are not driving!" Sonny pulls the keys away from me as we walk towards the car.

I try to grab them back "as if you're any better to drive!" I spit back "You had just as many as I did!" I remind him still going for the keys.

He keeps them high into the air, at least a foot taller then I am so I can't reach them "but I'm bigger then you and probably have a higher tolerance." He teases as we keep on towards the car.

"As if" I respond back to him "Come on, my dad doesn't like other people driving his car." I try to convince him to pass them over.

"What are you, 16?" He asks as we reach the car. "He'd be more pissed at me if I let you drive and crash the car. Get in!" He ushers me towards the passenger side as he opens the door.

"You're annoying" I spit as he opens the door and I slump into the passenger seat and put my seat belt on as he walks to the driver's side.

He gets in and buckles himself up "that's why they hired me, to annoy you. Put your belt on." He nods towards me.

"Fine." I grit as I reach over to slip the seat belt on.

I struggle clicking it into the buckle and Sonny sighs with frustration "let me." He says as he pushes my hands away to take control and buckle it up. "There" he finally clicks it in. His eyes meet mine and I notice just how close we are to one another, his breath brushing across my face. I keep myself from blinking as I stare into his beautiful blue eyes, mesmerized by them. His words break the silence "let's go before you do something stupid." He smiles just a little and pulls away from me to start driving.

I want to respond but have no witty comeback to say. I spend the next five minutes trying to think of something but I can't form any real sentence. I eventually give up and put my attention on the passing homes and trees blurring by us. "You ever wanna move away from home?" I ask him, thinking about why I moved in the first place.

He looks at me only for a moment, putting his attention to the road "A bit. I always thought I'd go away for college, but I like the city. It's got everything you need in it." He explains. "You always want to live in Manhattan?" He asks.

I shake my head "No. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I fell in love with the city. I like the idea of having a neighbor only a few feet away. Then no matter what, at any given point in time, they'll be someone awake around you. It's always moving, even if someone's world stops, it's still going." I sputter out in a tipsy haze.

"That's an interesting way to think about it." He smiles back at me

"Here, turn here." I direct him to turn off the main road to go towards the home. "So, did you get to pick the whiz kid's brain tonight?" I ask Sonny.

"He's an interesting guy. I just don't see you two actually being together." Sonny says. I guess he noticed my reaction and adds on "no offense, I just meant that I can't see him with anyone really, maybe someone who also knows everything." He explains.

I smirk "he doesn't know everything." I say it under my breathe.

"What's that?" He asks looking over at me with a glance.

"Nothing." My smirk stays on my lips "take two more rights and we'll be there." I direct him. Once at the house I unbuckle the seat belt and head towards the front door "thanks for driving Sonny, I actually might be a bit tipsy." I say as I stumble over a step.

"Ok. I got you." He grabs my arm to help steady me "let's get you some water." He says as I work the keys out of my bag and open the front door. We walk into the living room and I plop down onto the couch. Sonny takes his jacket off and throws it on the chair next to me before heading into the kitchen. He returns and asks "what's that?"

I look up to him and answer "a photo album. I forgot all about it." I tell him, looking back down at the photos in the book.

Sonny places the glass of water down on the table and takes a seat next to me "is that your dad?" He asks pointing to a photo.

"Yea" I smile back "I think that was the day he proposed to my mother." I say back, turning the page to show him another photo of the two of them together.

"That's her, that's your mom?" He asks looking at that one now. I nod my head confirming "she was beautiful." He tells me.

"She was." I agree, my smile wavering.

"You look just like her Maddison." He says.

I blush a bit, but also shake my head "no, no. I look like my father. Everyone says so."

"No" He stays firm, his hand goes to my chin and lifts my face to see him "you look like her." He says seriously, lowering his hand and smiling a toothless grin at me.

"Thanks Sonny." I say softly, slowly leaning in towards him.

"Here," he passes over the glass of water to me "drink this."

I accept the glass to hide the embarrassment and drink it all with a few gulps. He stands up to grab a blanket from the couch across the room and I lift my feet onto the couch and close my eyes, ready to succumb to my slumber. He lays the blanket over me and I feel the other end of the couch sink in as he sits at the end. "Thanks." I mutter after yawning out, readjusting my feet on his lap.

"For what?" He questions, his voice in a whisper.

"For not letting me do something stupid. I really wanted to do something stupid just then." I whisper back to him.

I can hear the smirk in his voice "Goodnight Grey." He puts a hand on my ankle and I let myself drift into slumber.


	16. Chapter 16: Escaped

After Sonny wakes me up, I shower and get dressed for day 2 of the seminar. The seminar elaborates further on the day before with Morgan taking the lead. Sonny and I take notes as usual and during the lunch break we stay close by and talk about everything we've learned so far "I know you coming here was just some kind of prank but I'm really getting a lot from this!" Sonny exclaims as we walk back to our seats.

"There's always something new in the world of serial killers and rapists." I return, knowing all too well the darkness that is out in this world.

Sonny nudges me once we get inside "did you know your dad was going to be here?' He leans down to ask me.

I look down at the stage and see my father, dressed in his suit and talking to Michael. As we walk to our seats he spots me and murmurs something over to Michael before coming towards us. "I wonder what's up?" I mutter more to myself then him as he gets closer. I stand up and excuse myself past Sonny. "Hey dad, everything okay?" I ask, noticing the strained lines on his face.

He pulls me aside, walking up the few further steps to the top of the auditorium "there's uhh, there's been a prison break down in Florida. Doyle McClan escaped."

"Escaped?" I ask him, hearing everything he said but not able to process it.

He keeps his voice lower "the bureau thinks he is going to be coming for you next."

"Me?" I ask another question, the fear from the days of Doyle holding us hostage coming back.

"They want you to lay low until they catch him. I'm going to help them. Don't worry Maddy, we'll get him." He tries to encourage me.

I shake my head "like last time?" I spit out, a little too loud and people around us turn to stare.

"Maddison, please. We'll get him, but for now let's just go back to the house and figure everything out. The BAU is going to be on the case as well." He nods and then looks towards the door behind me.

I shake my head "No, I am not going to go back to your house and hide. I'm going back to New York!" I take the few steps back down to where Sonny is still sitting and lean over "let's go Sonny, we're going home."

"Home?" He asks, searching my face for more information.

"New York. Let's go!" I open my eyes wider to try and get him to figure out the urgency of the situation.

He gathers his notebook and jacket, standing up and coming to the aisle "sure, yah. Let's go." He nod his head like he understands and follows me up the stairs again.

"Maddison, please. Don't be stubborn." My father tries to stop me, everyone in the room trying not to stare now.

I turn back to my father before getting to the door "No Dad, I am going to be stubborn this time around. I am not going to put my life on hold for this. If he comes after me, I'll be prepared. Good luck Dad, I love you." He goes to say something but I walk out quickly before I can hear him and go straight towards the car.

I pace by the door for moments before Sonny gets there with the keys "everything okay, Grey?"

"It's fine, we just need to get back to the city." I open the door as he unlocks it.t

"Sure, but our flight isn't until tomorrow evening, I don't think the department would pay to change it." Sonny starts the car being reasonable as usual. I growl out frustrated at his common sense and he pulls out of the parking lot. "It's fine, we'll talk a rental, be back by tonight. Is there something you have to be back for?" He asks.

I shake my head "no, I just need to get out of here." I assure him.

"Alright, sure. Let's get our stuff and head home." He agrees. About 40 minutes into the drive home he gets my attention asking "you've bitten all of your nails down. Is everything okay?"

"What?" I shake my head and look to him "yah, it's fine." I lie.

He looks between me and the road with a flat lined mouth "come on Maddison, you're my partner. I think I can tell when something isn't right."

I sigh out, getting ready to tell him "there was a prison break and the man who killed my mother escaped. The FBI think he may be coming after me so they want me to lay low."

"Wow, wow. He's coming after you?" He asks shocked, worry crossing his face.

I shake my head "they only think that, they don't even know it. And I am not going to just sit back and let my life go by as they try to catch him again." I explain.

"Maddison, are you sure going back to New York is the best choice right now?" He asks.

I eye him with a flat stare "I'm not 15 anymore. I've been in the academy, I know how to handle myself Sonny. I am not going to let this man ruin my life anymore than he already has." I try and say with confidence, trying not to let it seem shaky to him.

"Hey, hey." He puts his hand on my knee and gives it a small squeeze before returning it to the wheel "whatever you want to do, I'll do. Should we tell Benson?"

I bite the inside of my lip "no, please don't tell anyone. I don't want the whole department knowing everything." I ask.

"Sure." He promises and we continue on quietly back to the city.

We drop the car off at the first Hertz we can once in the city and catch a cab to get back to our apartments. Sonny gives the driver my address first and helps me get my bag out of the trunk once we arrived "alright, well, I'll see you at the precinct tomorrow Maddison. Let me know if you need anything." He puts the bag down outside the door and leans in to give me a hug.

"Thanks" I say, happy to have a friend here in the city. "Night!" I wave at him as he gets into the cab and heads home.


	17. Chapter 17: Back to Work

I arrive at the station the next morning later than I usually do, sleeping through my alarm again. As I walk into the pit Finn and Rollins turn and say hello "Hey Grey. Carisi over here," he throws his thumb back behind him at Sonny "was just telling us how you knew everything at that seminar, made you guys come back early."

I shrug, happy to go along with the story Sonny made up "what's the point of another day without pay when you know everything, I caught Carisi up on the ride home about what he missed." I smile, accepting the cup of coffee Amanda hands over to me "thanks."

"You okay?" She asks me as I go to sip it.

I take one sip and nod, lowering the cup to answer "just getting used to being back." I smirk.

"You were gone for 2 days." Finn returns.

I give him a stupid gaze "Yah, I we stayed at my old childhood home, talk about needing to get out of there!" I joke back.

He chuckles "say no more." He puts his hands up as the phone rings and he leans over to answer it. He listens to the other end, then hangs up and turns to us "one girl found stabbed in the park. I want Carisi and Rollins on lead, Grey you tag along. I'll call Amaro, he should be back soon." He directs, taking over until Olivia gets back from whatever meeting she's at.

The three of us leave the precinct and make our way to the park the girl was found in. We arrive as they begin to wheel her into the ambulance. "A birdwatcher found her?" Carisi asks the cop who greeted our arrival.

"How young is the girl?" I add on, not really getting a good look as they load her in.

The cop respond "no I. D. On her maybe 10. Head trauma, stabbed multiple times, clothes torn."

"Alone in the park at dawn match any amber alerts?" Carisi asks as shes lifted up.

"Nothing so far." The cop answers.

"You'd think her parents would notice her missing." I comment, moving to the side of the truck.

"Yeah, unless the parents are the ones who left her here." Carisi comments back to me.

Amanda shakes her head looking back to him "that's a cheerful thought. I'm going to ride along, see if she comes to."

"I'll come along!" I offer, wanting to get more experience with child victims.

Amanda stops me from coming on "why don't you stay with Carisi. Amaro is going to meet me at the hospital."

She nods as if it's the better idea and I nod agreeing "sure". I make my way over to where Carisi is already talking to the lady who called it in.

"The Finch flew away when he came out of the woods." The women says to him, still kind of in shock.

Carisi nods "okay, can you can you tell me about him? Not the bird, the man." He clarifies.

I have my notebook out, ready for the description. "Yes, of course. He was huge, hulking, hunched over the girl's body like a turkey vulture. I yelled for him to shoo, and he took off into the woods."

I stand there with my pen to the pad unable to write any of that down. I ask her "do you think you could give his description to a sketch artist?"

She looks at me wondering who I am. Carisi introduces "this is my partner, Detective Grey. Go ahead and answer her question."

I nod to thank him and listen as she answers "well, I can do better than that. I took photographs." She holds up binoculars that are more sophisticated then most "they're digital."

Sonny smiles and opens his hand for her to hand it over "great, we'll need that for evidence."

She nods with hesitation and brings the necklace around her neck and hands it over to Carisi. He moves to walk away and I follow "let's get these downloaded and send them to Rollins."

We move quickly to a police car and transfer over her digital files. We skim past the 40 or so of the birds she was trying to capture and see the ones of the man "it's not much" I bite my lower lip looking at the four photos back to back.

"Well, it's a start." He says sending them to his phone so he can send them to Rollins. Sonny and I help the cops on scene look for evidence in the direct vacinity we're the girl was found.

He gets a text from Amanda about two hours or so later filling us in "we called Liv, there's 2 other girls missing. Taru is getting fliers printed and we're going on a search."

He lets me read it as he does and when I finish I look up at the sky "I'll get our jackets, looks like it'll be a wet search."

He looks up now and agrees "good idea Grey."

Amanda arrives soon after we got her text and after the three of us talk and the cops father around, we begin to give the profile to the officers "our suspect may live in these woods. He is over 6 foot. He's heavyset. He's bald." She starts.

Carisi and I help pass out the flyers "he may go by the name Glasgowman. He may have a scar from ear to ear." I add on to her direction.

"Also, for what it's worth, the vic describes him as wearing an eye patch." Carisi also adds.

Amanda finishes "this is an active search for two girls, white. Mia Harris, she's 12, red hair, blue eyes, okay? She's 5'3", and then we got Perry Gilbert. She's 13, dark hair, blue eyes, Got it?" She looks at the officer that's been there since we arrived.

"All right, let's go. We're going to fan out. We're going to move into the woods from the north side." He directs all the officers and the search begins.

We search the area for awhile, hollering out their names at times but getting nothing back. As we get further into the woods, we find something "what the hell is this?" Carisi asks moving closer to whatever is pushed under the dirt.

"Hey. A child's backpack." I reach down and lift it up.

An officer ahead of us calls out "guys, you gotta see this. Over here! Detectives!" Our eyes finally meet the man calling to us. "The cadets think they found something."

I stop a cop as he moves forward "hey, get this to CSU. Can you do that?" I ask and he nods assuring me he can.

The officer keeps his gun raised, pointing it towards the entrance to a cave. "cadets saw someone run into that cave. He won't come out."

"Is he armed?" Rollins asks.

"I don't know." The cops answers back.

I yell into the cave "all right. NYPD. Let's get on out of there."

"Hands in the air." The officer yells with his gun still pointed.

Rollins steps up closer to him "hey, hey, hey. We want him alive, okay?"

"I said hands up." Carisi calls back as the officer lowers his gun into his holster.

"Get on the ground, now!" The officer pulls out a taser now.

"Okay. Hold on." Carisi says, reading the situation.

Rollins also speaks with a cool tone "take it easy, my friend. Take it easy."

The man yells at us, waving a stick "get out of here!"

"All right. All right. Come on, come on." I lower my own gun, moving next to Carisi to try and encourage him out. "Come out nice and easy. No one gets hurt."

The officer next to him yells again "put the stick down, get on the ground, or I will tase your ass." The man comes out a bit further but instead of dropping it he swings it forward. "Put it down let's go! Get out of here!" The cop shoots his taser and the man drops the stick but doesn't fall "he's not going down!" The officer exclaims shocked.

"Well, stop it!" I yell, knowing how much voltage is going through him.

Carisi agrees "turn the damn thing off!" He keeps yelling at him "hey, enough, enough!" The taser goes off and Carisi leans down closer to the man "stay on the ground, sir. Stay on the ground. I don't want anything else to happen to you."

"All right. Easy, easy." Rollins steps closer to him and begins to cuff him.

"Don't move. Don't move. No one gets hurt, all right?" I also encourage him next to Carisi, his breath uneven. "Just relax, just relax. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.


	18. Chapter 18: Mythical Reality

Amaro walks in after watching the interview with Perry's mom. "She doesn't place him?" I ask when the door shuts.

"No" He answers "Zoe's convinced it's him and that he's Glasgowman, but she doesn't remember being stabbed."

Carisi comes back in "Perry's mom-no help. Her boyfriend's got his hands full with that one." His hands go up as if to say no way.

"Okay. What do we have on Glasgowman?" Benson asks.

Rollins answers first "Charlie Dorsey, he's 36. The local precinct's seen him rummaging through the garbage, collecting cans.

"Frequent-flier at the Hudson river state asylum until they dumped him back on the streets when it closed down in 2003." I add on.

"After that, he stops taking his meds, jumps the couch a few times." Amaro finishes explaining. "It's minor stuff first, then amps it up. Subway assaults, then he stabs a guy in the kidney at a homeless center shelter, gets a three-year bid in attica."

Rollins goes on "he gets released two years ago, meets once with his P. O. and then goes off the grid until today."

Carisi comments "it was only a matter of time. I mean, you can't unscrew the top of the salt shaker and then be surprised when it spills all over the table."

Benson stops us all from going on "all right. Do we have any physical evidence linking him to Zoe's assault?"

I tell her the bad news "no sign of the weapon, negative on the rape kit, and we're running his clothes now for DNA, and that eye patch is just for show. He got extremely agitated when we tried to take it off."

"Find anything in that cave?" She asks next.

Amanda shakes her head "no, it's tiny a spider hole."

Benson doesn't allow it "well, he lives in that park. He's got to sleep somewhere."

Amaro disagree's "we haven't found anything yet. Look, those woods are dense. It's the last primeval forest in the area. - It's going to take some.."

Benson catches on "okay. All right. Did he say anything about Perry or Mia?"

Carisi answers "No. He clammed up. He claims he has no idea."

Amaro offers "okay, why don't I take a run at him?"

Carisi interjects "no disrespect, Nick, but I-I think he trusts me, sarge."

Amaro asks him "wait. You just said he clammed up."

"Rollins?" She asks for her opinion.

She shrugs, clearly uncomfortable with all eyes on her "uh, Carisi did get them to stop tasering, - um, helped talk him down."

I thought that would be the end of it but Benson asks me next "Grey?"

"I agree with Rollins, he seemed to be okay with Carisi." I sound as confident as I can.

Nick offers a sad smile, like he's been betrayed. "Okay, guys, it's been over 12 hours since two girls went missing." Benson looks around before walking towards the door "Carisi, let's go."

Carisi quickly follows her into the room as Rollins and I watch from the window. We watch as the two of them try to talk to this man, as crazed as he is. After Benson shows him the photo of the girls he starts to get mad again. Sonny pulls him back in and I look at Rollins "he's good." She nods back to me without saying anything and we watch further as they listen to him tell them about Zoe

The two of them come out of the room and Benson gives her orders "Carisi, Grey you go with Charlie back to the woods. Rollins, stay here and find out everything you can about this Glasgowman."

Carisi and I prepare for our trip back to the woods with Charlie and are on the road within the hour. He takes us through the woods, further and further in to where he calls home. "It's down there." He directs as we go, his hands still cuffed together.

"Where?" Carisi asks.

"Under the kudzu" He explains.

"All right, show us." I add on.

We move closer to an opening but Charlie turns around and looks to Carisi "little brother, I need you to switch my eye patch over to the other side."

Carisi looks at me strangely but responds "so you can see in the dark? Yeah, I get it."After the eye patch was switched he says "all right, the device, Charlie where is it?"

"It's the third bag on the left." He tells us after the three of us are inside.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" Charlie hesitates loudly as Carisi leans towards the bag to look through it.

"Okay. Calm down. This is just so we can prove that it was planted here." He tells him what he needs to here. I look at him in awe, kind of shocked how good he is at reading behavior. "Okay. Okay. We got it. Good job, Charlie." He tells him. "Hey, Grey, I want nobody in here. Nobody disturbs a thing until Charlie here is released."

He tells me in front of him, really telling me to get on the radio and call it in. "All right, I'm on it." I turn away and radio out "hey, get CSU down here right now."

After I radio out I hear Charlie and can tell he's agitated "you- you- you and your people can go now. I'm gonna stay here."

Carisi answers him "you know I can't let you do that. "It's going to be okay. Come on." He encourages him.

"You know what?" I say getting both their attention "it's okay. You guys go on ahead. I'll stay and make sure nobody comes in, all right?"

We both wait for his answer and when he agrees Carisi and I look at each other with relief. He turns to my partner "I need you to switch my eye patch over to the other side. I don't want the sun to blind me."

Carisi puts the flashlight into his mouth and slowly switches his eye patch over. I try to hide my smirk, but he looks kind of adorable helping this giant man through everything. "Let's go, Charlie." He says and I regain myself. Carisi looks over his shoulder as he follows Charlie out and gives me a nod.

I search around, waiting for CSU. I look through one of his bags and find a bloody knife. I pull it out with a heavy sigh, not wanting to believe Charlie really did this.

I walk into the precinct later that afternoon after leaving right after CSU got there. I got it into evidence right away, knowing how time sensitive everything is with the other two girls still missing. "Hey, so no trace of the other girls in or around his encampment, and the dogs didn't pick up any scent either."

Benson asks "what about the knife?"

Carisi answers "Charlie claims they're for hunting and fishing and that the blood on the knife is from bluefish. We're running it now for prints and DNA."

Amaro pipes in "CSU is still there going over his place."

"And this device?" Benson asks, wanting more.

"It's a handheld zoom camera. It's pretty dinged up." Carisi tells her.

Amaro adds "we sent it to TARU. - Could be the girls'. Zoe told us Perry had a camera that night."

Carisi pulls out his cell and read something, then looks back to Benson "these guys are good. TARU's already got something." He moves over to his computer and pulls up the file that was just sent to him.

We watch a video that the girls were making the night before. They intended to meet Glasgowman at his mansion, confusing us with this new piece of information. "Mansion, map?" Rollins speaks out shaking her hair.

"Zoe didn't mention any of this." Benson says before leaving the precinct, presumably heading to the hospital.

Benson calls us after visiting Zoe and gives us information on a babysitter named Leslie. "Find where he lives, you and Grey are coming with me." She directs to Nick who put the call on speaker.

The police officer with us knocks on the door. Amaro calls out "NYPD."

"Can I help you?" The tiny man answers the door and we push ourselves in. "Whoa."

"Back away." I direct him as he stumbles to put his glasses on "where are they?"

"Who?" He asks.

"Mia, Perry, the girls. When was the last time you saw them?" Amaro asks him.

He answers, his face confused "uh, I don't know. Tuesday maybe?" He answers unsure.

Benson questions further "is that when you gave them the map?"

He asks "what?"

I spot a mansion painted on his wall and point it out "that mansion where is it?"

He shakes his head "Oh, it doesn't exist. It's all in here." he points to his head while staring at the picture in awe.

"Hey, listen to me." Benson grabs at his arm to get his attention "we don't have time for that. Those girls went into the woods with your map looking for Glasgowman."

Amaro pushes further "you tell them to do that? You meet them there?"

His face shows more shock "what? No. No. Glasgowman isn't real."

Amaro steps up, pulling up Charlie's photo on his phone "no? Recognize him? We have him in custody."

"You arrested Charlie." He gets out meekly.

"Oh, so you do know him." Benson returns.

Leslie answers "he's homeless. I bring him food. He tells me crazy stories. The kids call him Glasgowman. I just amped it up, created the lore."

"The lore?" Benson repeats, unfazed by his story, "Zoe got stabbed. She almost died."

"Stabbed? You can't think I had anything to do with that. I adore Zoe." He offers.

"Is that why you drew her here covered in blood with Perry and Mia?" I shove a photo towards him that doesn't look good.

He explains "look, Perry likes scary stories. I started to turn them into a graphic novel, - but it's all fiction."

Amaro isn't buying it "yeah, fiction. So what's the plot? What happens to the girls?"

Leslie answers "there's, like, six books. I just started editing it all this weekend. I don't know where they are."

"They said they were looking for Glasgowman's mansion, okay? And we know that they were using your map." Benson repeats. "Hey, I'm going to ask you again. Where's the map?" She asks him.

He keeps his eyes trained on the mansion on his wall "I don't know where they are."

Benson gives the order "tear this place apart until we find it."

Amaro and I grab a board off the wall and pull it off. Leslie pleads with us "no, no, no! Please, please, please, no! Please, wait. Don't. Don't."

We see more painting on the wall and I ask "is this it? Is this the map?"

Leslie finally tells us "okay, okay, here In the story, Glasgowman goes over the bridge and then up and down the river. That's the lizard's tail.

Amaro turns a light on "wait, it's got to be the Hudson."

Leslie nods "uhhuh."

Benson questions "what are we looking at here?"

Leslie explains further "this is the gateway to the mansion." He points out to what looks like an old abandoned factory. "It's like the portal to the other realms. I based it off of one of Charlie's hideouts."

I push for more "okay, so where is it?"

"It's upriver somewhere Spuyten Duyvil Park." He says and we leave, knowing where we are going to go next.

"I'll head to the hospital and tell their parents, get Carisi to meet you there and find those girls!" She directs as we leave Leslie's building.

We meet Carisi near the park and make our way in further to find the old building. This is a solid lead that we all hope gives us mroe answer. "What is that down there?" Rollins asks leading the way.

"Could be the gateway." Amaro answers.

"Perry? Mia?" I call out.

"Perry? Mia?" Amaro also calls out.

Carisi gets ahead of us "oh, no, I got a knife." He picks it up "and a dead cat."

Rollins says "that can't be good."

"All right, guys, let's get this bagged and tagged for CSU" Carisi directs the officers passing it off.

"Perry? Mia?" I call out again moving further through the old concrete. I spot something in the wall and hurridely go over to it. It's a whole in the wall and I go inside. As soon as I shine the light in I notice the bodies on the ground. "Hey. Hey! A little help in here!" I call loudly moving to one of the girls.

"We got both of them." Amaro comments loudly once inside.

"Oh, my God. Oh, geez." Rollins comes over to help the other girl. "Mia?" She asks then yells out "call a bus. Mia. Perry. - Are you all right?"

"Help us. Help us." Perry pleads.

"Perry. Hey, can you hear me?" I ask her trying to get her friend conscious.

"Yes." She barely answers.

Rollins helps steady her head "who did this to you, baby?"

"Glasgowman." She answers. "He said he was coming back to bleed the devil out of us, but he never did."

I throw my jacket over her "alright, alright. We're here, everything will be okay." I encourage her, knowing knows not the time to get the rest of her statement.

As Benson, Amaro and Carisi go in to get the girls' statement, Rollins and I talk with the doctor once she's available. She comes over to us looking at the chart "they're suffering from exposure and dehydration. They had food in their backpacks mostly candy."

"And the stab wounds on Perry?" I question.

The doctor explains "not as deep as the ones on Zoe, all on the left side of her body mostly the arms, no organs."

"Right. Anything else?" Rollins asks.

"Perry was disoriented." The doctor tells us. "She said she was attacked last night, but there was no inflammation, no bruising. These injuries are fresh. I'd say an hour old, two at the most."

Rollins goes to walk away but I stop to ask once more question "and, doctor, any defensive wounds?"

Rollins looks back waiting for the answer as well "No. None, actually."

I nod in her direction to thank her and we walk to find the others. "That's just not right." I say in a hushed tone.

"I know, why all on one side of her body?" Rollins questions.

I sigh out "I have a theory." And she looks at me wondering what it is.


	19. Chapter 19: Friend's Protection

"Hey, how did it go with the girls?" Rollins asks as we reach the 3 of them down the hall.

Rollins answers "the timeline is way off. They're both blaming Charlie. We've had him in custody since Sunday afternoon."

"Well, they may just be confused. He could have walked them up there and then got back to Inwood by the time we picked him up." Amaro offers the idea.

Rollins fills them in "except the doctor just told me Perry's wounds are fresh."

"Okay, so they're covering for someone." Carisi says.

Amaro asks the obvious "who?"

"I don't know." Carisi answers. "Maybe it's a "Romeo and Juliet" kind of thing? Two girls go off to be with some Svengali."

"Well, then who stabbed Zoe?" I question, still not ready to share my theory.

"I don't know." Benson hums out. "Rollins, did you check the girls' social media?"

Rollins answers "yeah, in their texts, their emails, there's no boyfriends, not even really any other friends. It's just a lot of back and forth between Perry and Mia. They're in their own world."

The four of us stand there for a moment, wondering in our own silence what exactly happened that night. "I'm going to re-interview Zoe." Benson tells us before going off towards Mia's room.

When I go to leave to head to my apartment to get a shower and a change of close, Carisi catches me in the elevator. He waits for the doors to shut before asking "how are you doing? It's been a few days." He looks down at me with his hands on his hips.

"A few days since what?" I ask as the elevator begins to descend.

He lowers his arms "since the prison break. Have you heard anything, have they found him yet?"

I nod my head, catching on to what he's talking about now. "Oh! No, I haven't heard anything. Which means they are probably still looking." I say and the elevator opens to the lobby "see you in an hour Sonny." I call back to him.

"Careful out there Maddy!" He calls back to me. I turn around and give him the same glare I did when he called me that in D.C and he smiles before the door closes on him "sorry, be careful out there Grey!" He gets out.

When I return to the precinct we are waiting for Benson to give us the results back from the lab. It's only about 30 minutes after I get there that she comes in looking it over on her phone "breaking news the knife that we found inside the gatehouse only one set of prints- Perry's."

"Her wounds were all on one side no defensive marks. She stabbed herself." I finally say out, the evidence of the knife confirming my own theory.

"After she tied Mia up." Carisi says working through it in his head. "Yeah, okay. So who stabbed Zoe?"

Benson holds up a finger for a moment "hold on. We got that too." She scrolls down on her phone "here it is. DNA from Zoe on the blade of the knife found in Charlie's camp. Ah, this is interesting. On the handle, touch DNA from Charlie and guess who else." She pauses for a moment. "Perry and Mia."

"So Charlie was telling the truth." Carisi says, sounding relieved. "He picked up that knife same as he did the camera."

"Go give him the good news." Benson directs to him. Carisi sort of smiles, happy to go talk to Charlie.

"Bring those girls back in here and tell their mothers why." Benson tells us next.

I ask "should we call Barbara too?"

Benson explains "both of the girls are under 14 years old. Zoe lived. They can't be tried as adults." She exhales once "i'll call corporation council."

"I'll call Zoe's mom, you call Perry's." Rollins tells Amaro and the two of them go off.

I make my way to find Carisi, wanting to help if Charlie got anxious again. I slow my walk as I get closer, listening to their conversation. "You really are a good samaritan. You saved that girl Zoe."

Charlie stutters back "so- so, so I can I can leave now?"

Carisi tells him straight up "you did violate your parole"

"Don't- - don't send me back to Attica." Charlie begs.

"I won't, but you know you can't just go back to the woods, so how about we get you in a program Maybe we get you on some meds? I know how you feel about that, but you just got to trust me on this, okay, Charlie?" He asks him kindly. "Do you think you can do that?"

Charlie eventually answers "for a while, yeah."

"Good man." Carisi tells him. "Take a seat and I'll make some calls." He directs and moves to head back out. When he comes out the door I look at him with a smirk "what?" He asks back shrugging.

"Nothing. I think it's sweet you how you want to help him." I confide.

He responds back "it's the right thing to do. Even through his crazy episodes, he did the right thing. He deserves another chance."

I nod back "you're right little brother, he does." I use the knickname Charlie called him in the woods to get back at the him for calling me Maddy earlier.

He chuckles "it doesn't bother me like it bothers you Maddison."

"We'll see!" I laugh back and go over where Amanda is hanging up the phone to hear what Zoe's mom said to having them come to the station.

The next day I watch Carisi and Rollins interview Mia, I go in with Benson to interview Perry afterwards. Benson starts off the interview harsh "Mia is blaming you, Perry. She said that stabbing Zoe was your idea."

I add on to her, taking a seat at the table "what we don't understand is why you would want to hurt your friend's little sister?"

"It wasn't my idea." She argues back.

"All right, you want to tell us what really happened?" Benson directs.

"I was simply following orders." She responds

I ask "whose orders?"

"Glasgowman." She says his name as if it's the only one she's ever wanted to say. "He comes to me at night. We communicate. He stared into my eyes and told me my mission. If I failed, he was going to take my breath away at midnight." Her voice starts to get shaky. "I had to prove my loyalty."

"Perry, where are you getting this?" Her mom asks in a high pitched voice.

Benson puts her arm up towards her mom "let her talk. Perry, how did you prove your loyalty?"

"I had to take innocent blood. Okay." She squeals.

I ask the obvious "whose blood?"

"Zoe." She admits. "That's how you get to be a proxy. But when Zoe was lying there Bleeding, I didn't feel Glasgowman's presence. I started to doubt." Her voice lowers "that's why she survived. He must have switched the plan.

I ask another question, keeping her talking "okay, so what did the plan become?"

She goes on willingly "he led us to the gatehouse In the form of a cat, but I mean, I knew it was him because he had Glasgowman's eyes, and when I looked into them He told me to murder Mia." Her eyes are filled with tears.

Benson encourages her to continue "well, then what happened?"

"The cat was glaring so powerfully, trying to make this hypnotic connection. I couldn't take it, so I stabbed it through the heart because I didn't want to kill my friend. Glasgowman tricked me." She pleads us to believe her.

"I swear this isn't my daughter." Her mother shakes and steps away from the table "I've never heard her talk like this before."

"Can I have a moment with my client and, uh, her mother?" Their lawyer asks.

We both know we have to leave so we step out and talk with everyone else, along with a counselor from family court. "Counselor, what do you think?" Benson asks.

"First impression she's not competent to stand trial." She tells us.

I shake my head disagreeing "for what it's worth, there was no sign of this behavior before she knew that we were onto her."

The women disagrees "she took two girls into the woods, stabbed one, stabbed herself, killed a cat. I'd call at least one of those a sign.

"And we don't think Mia is involved?" Rollins asks.

Carisi shakes his head "Nah. I have an easier time believing that she's under Perry's spell. She's scared to death. I have a hard time believing that she stabbed her own sister and left her for dead."

Benson exhales with frustration "what do you recommend?"

"Do you have any proof of conspiracy emails, texts, posting on social media?" She asks.

"No. No, we don't." Carisi answers instantly.

The counselor tells us her plan "I'll order a psych eval, see where we are."

Within a week the evaluation comes back and the case moves to family court. At the hearing, the judge determined the sentence for the girls. Mia was released to her mother and Perry was sentenced to a hospital ward until she is no longer a danger to herself or others. Some people in the department think her sentencing was a joke, but others agree with it. We move forward with work, letting the case of these young girls fall behind us.


	20. Chapter 20: No Clues

Its been a few weeks since I heard anything about Doyle and decide to give Morgan a call to find out what's going on. It goes straight to voicemail so I hang up and dial the next number that comes to mind. "Maddison, is everything okay?" Spencer's friendly concerned voices oozes through the line.

"Spencer, hi. Everything is good. I was just wondering what's going on with the search for Doyle?"

He responds with nervousness "you called me? Why not your father?"

I nervously chuckle back "because we're not really talking right now. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have called." I mutter out, really realizing now this was a mistake.

He stops me before I could hang up "no, it's fine. It's good to hear from you." He lets the words sink if for an awkward amount of time.

I speak into the air "thanks."

"As for Doyle, we're still actively searching for him. We are taking on other cases as well though." He tells me honestly. I know that means they have no leads on where he is or any chance of finding him if they keep themselves on this case over others.

"Alright. Thanks Spencer." I say, ready to hang up and get back to work.

Spencer doesn't get the hint though and goes on "You taking precautions up there? He really could be coming after you, he did threaten that at his last hearing."

I sigh "I remember and yes, I am being careful. Don't worry about me."

"I'll always worry about you." He responds back before thinking about what he was going to say. He used to tell me that was one of his favorite things about me, I turned his brain off and he just said what he wanted to say.

I smile at his words "and me, you. Bye Spencer." I say and he returns the salutation before hanging up.

I walk back into the precinct and sit at me desk, getting ready for Benson and Finn to review us on how their on site interview went with the victim. "The glove they found in the sewer grate came back clean." Finn starts off as Benson pins a photo to the board. "No DNA. No prints."

"No DNA? Well, there goes codis." I say, knowing it's not always easy here.

"Look, it was worth a shot." Carisi agrees.

Benson explains "we think the perp knew her, so-"

She goes to further explain but Carisi jumps in "so we re-canvass the area, video cams, parking tickets, I crosscheck the tea shop's credit card receipts with known offenders." He smirks at our boss "I know the drill."

He sits down across from me opening laptop. "Fantastic." She tells him.

Rollins walks in hurriedly towards her desk "hey, sorry I'm late. Con ed was on my block. The transformer was out. So no electricity, no hot water. I had to take a shower at the gym. - It was-"

"Rollins, a word of advice." Benson stops her "when you're coming up with an excuse, don't oversell."

Carisi chuckles as do I and Rollins responds "copy that."

Finn fills her in "the perp wore latex gloves. We think he stalked her."

"Okay, so you put it into vicap?" Rollins asks looking at Carisi. He is about to say something when she continues. "You did, right? You have a detailed M. O. I mean, vicap is a comprehensive nationwide database." She finally sits opening her own laptop.

Sonny tries to cover his short slip up "yeah, I know. I was just about to get into that."

Rollins ignores him and begins typing. "Okay, early Sunday, a Caucasian male assaults Annie Lin. Now, she's young. She is Asian. He chokes her and uses latex gloves. What else?"

"He hummed." Finn clues us in.

"He what?" I ask, unsure I heard what I heard.

"He hummed." Finn says again. "Annie remembered the perp humming while he assaulted her."

Carisi pushes it off "he hummed? So he's musical."

Rollins taps her desk a moment "you might think I'm crazy, but was it gospel music?"

Benson answers "Annie said it sounded like a church hymn."

"Before I left Atlanta, we had a humming rapist that choked out his vics. I mean, it wasn't my case, but it was only back in 2008? 9?" Rollins tells us, thinking back to old cases at her old precinct.

I nod and Benson directs "Okay, well, Atlanta's easy call for you, right?" Rollins nods nows. "So Carisi, since you were gonna do it anyway how about you take over vicap with Grey? Check recently released parolees, offenders, okay? This guy had to come from somewhere."

Finn speaks up then, getting off the phone call he took "and he may not have gone anywhere. At the midtown magnet school just disclosed to her counselor, early morning, a guy choked her out."

I sigh along with someone else and Benson leaves with Finn to go interview the girl "let's go."

I drag my chair over to Carisi's side of the desk and we begin our Vicap search for the perp. "Click on that." I direct him a few moments later as he takes forever to go through the system. "No, scroll down, there's still more to input."

"Learn all of this at the FBI?" He asks, typing in the specific M.O of our perp.

"Just something I picked up while in prison." I joke and he looks at me strangely "of course from the FBI Carisi, sheesh." I slap him lightly on the arm and he awkwardly chuckles back "okay, now just click the perimeters you want to search and then we're good." I tell him. He specifies North America as our search perimeters and the loading begins.

We sit scrolling through report after report of incidents similar but not matching our perps M.O. Rollins returns from grabbing a file and Carisi engages her "so we're going over these vicap responses. You know how many rapists sing, hum, or whistle to their victims?"

"Mmmmm." She hums back not really fully engaged.

"A lot." He returns throwing his pen down. "You got anything?"

"Probation, no. Immigration, no. And the military hasn't gotten back to us yet." She tells him.

I shake my head "Oh, big surprise." Rollins phone rings and she looks down at it, making a weird face. "You okay?" I ask her.

She nods "yeah, it's- it's Atlanta." She accepts it. "Captain Reynolds, thank you for calling back."

Just then Benson and Finn return from their interview and Carisi asks "hey, you guys get anything from the new vic?"

"She remembered the latex gloves and the humming." Finn responds "No DNA. Didn't see the face. This guy targets his vics. He knows their routines."

"Any matches on vicap?" Benson asks.

"Yeah, too many." Carisi informs. "You know, unless this guy worked every city in the country, then I got to figure out how to narrow my search."

Benson puts her hands up, knowing the job all so well "without DNA, it's not gonna be easy."

"Well, let's hope we can figure something out before we have more victims." I answer, not wanting to surrender defeat.

"There's three open cases in Atlanta, same M. O." Rollins tells us now off the phone. "I mean, the latex gloves, the humming, the choking out. And they did the rape kits on all three of them but they never had them tested."

"Oh, not that again." Benson shakes her head. "Are they testing them now?"

Rollins returns "they think they're in storage."

"Along with what? Thousands of others?" I ask, knowing how far back most precincts are on testing their rape kits.

"Yeah, but they're looking at least, right?" Carisi asks her.

"Oh, and not very hard." Rollins explains. "These cases are six years cold."

Benson doesn't accept that "well, ours aren't. Rollins, if I send you down there, do you know where to look?"

Rollins weighs her head from side to side "it's still a boys club down there, but if I act helpless and bat my eyelashes—"

Benson interrupts her from going on "So, do that."

Rollins nods and Carisi asks "how about I go with?"

Benson answers "how about" she pauses for a second "you take Fin."

Trevor Langan walks in, asking to speak to Olivia. She goes into her office with him and shuts the door behind her. "Guess we're on desk duty." I say to Carisi whose standing now, happy Trevor didn't look my way.

"There's too much, we're gonna need to put in for O.T. later." He tells me looking down, frown lines forming around his mouth.

He goes to move to ask about it but I stop him "I don't think now's a good time to interrupt!" I call out, causing him to hesitate.

He throws his hand out at me like it's no big deal and knocks on the door before opening it without a response. I can hear it from here that she tells him it's not a good time but he gets out what he needs to get out and she agrees to O.T. He comes back over to the table "easy." He smiles, taking his seat and scooting in closer to look through more perp files.


	21. Chapter 21: Damning Evidence

Finn and Rollins return the next day and prepare to go over everything with Chief Dodd's. He arrives shortly after 9 A.M and Rollins begins the break down of information we most recently received "we're calling it pattern 17. Now, the DNA proves that one perp matching our New York M.O. Committed three rapes in five weeks down in Atlanta in 2008."

Finn adds on in his usual Finn manner "the brainiacs had the pattern and didn't even know it. They didn't even look for six years."

"Any matches in codis?" Chief Dodd's asks us.

"Nothing. Not even familial." Carisi answers. "The DNA does show that he's white male of European descent."

Dodd's doesn't like what he hears "which is fairly usess. You're checking matching M.O. s in other states?" He asks a follow up.

I take this one "yeah, hey may have struck in Vegas, possibly Milwaukee."

"You get DNA from those cases?" He asks now.

Benson explains "Milwaukee has a backlog about a mile long, and Las Vegas doesn't know if they've even tested the kits or not."

"What worries us is, this guy goes on sprees." I tell him.

Benson continues "and he's in the middle of one right now."

"You talk to the vics in Atlanta?" He looks over at Rollins knowing she was there.

"Just one, and she said that he likes to sing church songs and at he may have used a pager." She tells him.

"Sounds like a cost-effective trip." He says with his arms folded, not happy with what we have.

Benson closes her open mouth and turns to him "look, we've got this, chief. It's just legwork."

"Try to put some shine on it before tomorrow." He tells Benson, going to leave.

"What's tomorrow?" She asks him.

"The compstat briefing on the pattern 17 rapist." He tries to hide a large smirk. "You're in the hot seat, sergeant."

Once Chief Dodd's is out of the precinct she directs her attention to us "Let's get on this you guys, we need more. Carisi, Rollins keep going through Vicap and Cotis. Grey, stay on top of Milwakee and Vegas." She leaves as we begin to move to continue our work.

The next day while Benson is at her briefing, we get a call about another victim. I ride with Finn to the crime scene, meeting the others there. We get the break down from the officers on site "she's 12. She was walking her dog and was grabbed. The dog bit the perp before he could actually rape her." The officer exclaims.

"Wow, wow. Slow down, she tell you this?" Carisi asks him.

I nod to the two of them as I begin to walk away "I'm going to ride with her to the hospital!"

I get into the ambulance with the little girl and they shut the door, beginning the ride and prepping her. "What's your name sweetie?" I ask her, taking a hold of her small shaking hand.

"Ryann" She mutters through the mask on her face.

"Ryann, you are so brave, do you know that?" I tell her. Her eyes are still stained with tears but she tries to put on a small smile for me "You're going to be just fine sweetheart. I'm here for you." I encourage her. I know I can't get a full statement without permission so I just try to keep her calm during the ride and talk about things little girls like to talk about.

Benson comes into the room Ryann is with her mother and I. I go over to her and tell her as much as I was able to get without formally interviewing her. "Ryann, can you tell my friend here what you were just telling me?" I encourage her.

"It was Max." The little girl explains again, praising her dog. "He saved me."

I nod my head with a smile to encourage her "you're lucky he was with you."

I guide her through continuing "okay, and you said your attacker was wearing gloves and and he was humming."

She shakes her head once "yes. I didn't know the song." She sounds regretful about it.

"That's okay." Benson assures her. "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Her mother asks "did you get a look at his face, Ryann?"

She shakes her head "not really. He grabbed me from behind. But I didn't let go of Max's leash, not even when he pulled me into his car."

"And that car, do you know what kind it was?" I ask, hoping she has something.

She answers "no-I don't really know about cars."

Benson elaborates for her "well, do you remember how many doors it had or or what color it was, maybe?"

She thinks for a few seconds "Four. It was black like the seats."

I write the information down. "Okay."

She goes on "I remember because I shoved my headphones between them so I could prove I was there."

I look to Benson with wide eyes, then back to Ryann "that was a very smart thing to do."

"I tried to memorize the license plate, but I didn't get it all." She tells us, I can see her little brain working, trying to remember what it was she experienced "it was blue and white, though."

"Great." I write it all down.

"I'm sorry." Ryann whispers out, almost like she is about to cry.

"Don't say sorry, honey. You did great." Benson encourages her. "Now, is there any part of that license plate that you do remember?"

She nods her head and slowly repeats it to me "GQJ6."

"You did great Ryann, thank you!" Benson says thanking her and her mother before leaving.

"You are very brave Ryann, and smart. You did everything right. I hope you know that." I tell her with a small squeeze to her hand. She smiles back with a small nod and I leave the room.

A few hours go by back at the precinct and Benson comes in "any luck?"

I answer "so far, I got 40 black sedans with Connecticut plates matching the partials GQJ6."

Benson comes over to look at the screen for a moment "okay, so check e-zpass records, license plate readers, see if you can put any of those sedans at the crime scene"

"CSU has got the dog now." Finn comes in "they're swabbing his teeth for DNA."

"You know what? Tell them to scrape the nails too." Rollins tells him.

"Got it." He says pulling out his phone.

Carisi reads over my shoulder "hey, sarge. we got a 2014 Lincoln MKZ, black, Connecticut plates, registered to a Dr. Joseph Conklin. He works out at mercy hospital."

Benson comes back over as I begin to scroll down. "Nowhere near any of the three rapes."

Rollins adds "but he's a doctor. That would explain the pager, the gloves, the choke hold."

"Okay, anything connect him to Atlanta or Vegas?" She asks next.

I answer "I did an NCIC offline search, looking for a traffic stop or anything. Nothing came up. I'm still checking his pedigree, though." I say as I continue to look into this man. "Okay. - All right, hold up. Hold up the DEA has an open file on him" I call her back and click on the page to get more information.

Carisi sums it up for her "they've been looking at him for pushing pills for months."

"That could be enough for a warrant." Finn offers.

"Good. I'll call the DA." She says walking quickly towards her office "Rollins, Finn and Carisi get on the road. Grey, find anything you can on this guy!"

"Got it!" I answer back and continue my background check into Dr. Conklin.

The three of them return an hour or so later with the Dr. in handcuffs walking in yelling about how he knows nothing about rapes or how the headphones got into his car. They bring him in to interrogation room and I start to call the New York victims to come in and do a line-up knowing the process from here. Rollins works on getting the line up set up while Carisi tries to build a rapport with our perp. It takes a few hours but the Dr. eventually lawyers up and we have to leave him until council arrives.

"I pushed him too hard." Carisi leaves the office with his head hanging low.

"You did what you needed to do to try and get him to talk." Rollins tries to assure him.

He shakes his head "this doesn't seem off to anyone else?" I ask, not feeling like everything is cleared up.

"What do you mean?" Carisi asks.

I shrug "I mean, we have the headphones, so it's him. But I just feel like we are missing something here." I try to explain.

Rollins exits the elevator first once on the main floor "well, the evidence will come back soon enough and his fate will be sealed. Don't worry too much about it." She says, turning right outside as I turn left.

"Anyone down for a drink?" I ask, not ready to clock out and be alone at home.

Rollins keeps walking "can't tonight, maybe next time!"

"I'll go." Carisi agrees and I nod, beginning to walk to a bar close to the precinct. We get inside, order a round of beers and he starts off the conversation "so, everything okay with you?"

"everything's fine Carisi" I smirk with an eye roll, knowing he is referring to the Doyle situation.

"You can call me Sonny, Maddison." He uses my first name.

"Everything's fine, Dominick" I repeat my statement with his real first name. He gives me a know it all glance hiding a smile and I chuckle out taking a swig from my beer. "It's sweet of you to care, but really it's all alright."

He nods in return "good, I just want to make sure my partner is safe. I don't need your old FBI buddies coming down here showing me up." He jokes with me.

We spend the next 2 hours drinking a few more beers and chatting about things that don't involve work. "Thanks for coming out Sonny!" I say turning left to head to my apartment.

"It was fun. You want me to walk you home?" He offers still standing at the exit to the bar.

I decline, the familiar butterflies from our trip to D.C returning "thanks, but I'll be okay." I pat the gun on my hip and smile. "Goodnight!" I call back to him as I move father away.

"Night!" I hear him call back.


	22. Chapter 22: Getting More

After the line-up came back 0-3 we weren't feeling good about it. I get the report from the M.E I sent out and go quickly to find Benson to tell her, knowing that Finn and Carisi are interviewing him right now. "What do you got?" She asks me as I walk in.

"It's not him.' I say solemnly.

"The DNA came back that fast?" She asks surprised.

I shake my head "no. Before running the DNA, I had the M. E. check blood types, old school. But mercy hospital has Dr. Conklin's on file as O positive. All the DNA from Atlanta is from somebody AB." I explain.

She turns from the window as Finn and Carisi start to come out "it's still his car."

"Yeah." I say back.

"Hey, sarge." Carisi comes out ready to speak his thoughts "our rapist is methodical. He's meticulous. This guy's a mess."

"I know. It's not him." She tells them "but it's still his car."

"Not to mention he's a pill-pushing lowlife." Finn adds.

"Yeah, which means he probably loaned his car to another lowlife and now he's covering for him." I offer food for thought.

"So go back in there and you sweat him. You find out who had access." He tells the two of them. "Check hospital garage security footage. Find out who was driving that car."

After Finn and Carisi go back in, they don't get anything out of him that can further help our case. The two of them head out to the garage where the car was to talk to the attendant and I work with Rollins on the tapes. We manage to find the car leaving the garage and get the photo enhanced. We put it into our facial recognition program and head home for some sleep.

We get a text from Benson informing us on her call from Chief Dodd's. He's coming into the station at 10 for a report. She fills us in on her court date time and asks us to take over until she arrives. Once Dodd's gets there promptly at 10 we begin to review our case slowly, wanting to reveal other evidence we found overnight to him when Benson is also here. Luckily she's only about 10 minutes late and walks in quickly. "Hey, guys. I'm sorry I'm late."

"I told him you were on your way." Rollins says to her.

Dodd's snarls back "no problem. We started without you."

She ignores him and asks "what do we have on our suspect?"

I pull up the security footage "hospital security footage caught Albert Beck, no record, EMT for red alert ambulette for four years. His supervisor called him a hero and he was decorated for heroic action after the Metro North Derailment last year.

Rollins continues "and after finishing his graveyard shift, he returned an ambulette to the garage an hour before the assault on Ryann catalano."

"And he was caught on video driving Conklin's car." Dodd's states then questions "why isn't he in custody yet?"

"It's his day off." I tell him. "Finn and Carisi are on their way to his home address in queens right now."

"Okay, can we place him in Atlanta or Milwaukee?" Benson asks, knowing we want more then just the security footage.

"Yeah, we can." Rollins hands her the tablet. "He was an EMT in Atlanta from 2007 to 2009 and then Milwaukee the next two years. This ambulette service gives him a perfect cover to troll for victims."

"And then he moves to New York, where he lives for four years without incident, and then suddenly starts raping again." She shakes her head wondering why he stopped. Why now?"

"Ask him when you pick him up." Dodd's directs "and you better hope it's him. Your report to compstat didn't win you any fans." He leaves the room. Benson gives us an eye raise and leaves us.

Finn and Carisi return with the mother and daughter a few hours later. They fill Rollin and I in first as we wait for Benson to return from a meeting. Once she does, the 5 of us huddle outside the window to discuss where we are at. "The perp's girlfriend doesn't know where he is?" Benson asks after our first comment that we don't have him.

"Lauren burns is the ex." Finn tells her. "She booted him out of the house a month ago."

"Around the same time that he starts stalking his new vics." Carisi adds.

"I did a nexus and real estate search, and she and Albert Beck lived together in Milwaukee back in 2010." Rollins tells her.

"The same time the Milwaukee rapes stopped." Carisi again.

I jump in "and then her daughter, Beth, now 15, moved with him to New York a year later."

"Ok, well, she's petite." Benson looks in "that's his type. Explains the four-year gap in rapes. Why did she kick him out?"

"Mom caught him eyeballing the daughter." Carisi states.

"Great. Where is he now?" She asks us all.

"We've got plainclothes outside the hospital, the ambulette company, and we checked his service provider, but his cell is dead." Rollins gives her the details.

Benson's phone goes off and she walks towards her to desk to read it. "Daughter figured out why we were there. She probably warned him before mom handed over both their cells." Finn elaborates.

Carisi tries to get her attention when she doesn't respond "hey, sarge, you with us?"

"Yeah. She warned him? Well, what are we looking at? Statutory rape?" Benson asks.

"It's possible. Last couple of weeks, mom's had Beth on a tight leash." Finn says.

"Tight leash." She moves her arm pointing at the window "she's a teenager. Even if she doesn't have a phone, she's still gonna figure out how to get in touch with him. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter" She takes a breathe and takes control "All right, Grey. Let's go."

I nod my head and follow her into the room. After explaining to the two of them what has happened and all of the evidence we found, the daughter speaks up first. "You guys are wrong. Albert's being persecuted." She's agitated.

"Have you not been listening, Beth? They are telling us that Albert is a rapist." Her mom says back to her.

"Beth, he is a dangerous man. He's wanted in at least six assaults that we know of. Possibly more." Benson talks to her calmly. "So if you know where he is, we need you to tell us."

"How would I know?" She snarls back.

"Oh, don't even try." Her mother rolls her eyes "for God's sake."

"We know about the texts, the sexting. We've been through your phone." I inform the young girl.

She turns to her mother with rage "I told you not to give it to them."

Mom responds "it's in my name. I told you you could've started paying your own bills at any time."

Benson keeps it cool "Beth, he is the one who's at fault here. Okay, we just need you to help us out."

"You looked at my messages? My selfies? That's private." She tries to snarl at her mother who chortles.

"No, you know what that is? That is child pornography. That's felony. And you created it, you sent it, so it's gonna be your jail time." I tell her the harsh truth.

"What? You can't do that." The girls mouth hangs open, finally starting to see how serious we are.

"Actually, we can." Benson clears it.

"Mom." She looks to her mother for help.

The women asks "are you serious?"

"Yes." Benson stays firm "and, Ms. Burns, since the phone is in your name, we can charge you as well."

The mother and daughter stare at each other with worry. "Why don't we work together to get Albert? You can text him and set up a meeting." I offer the idea, knowing we need to get him into the open.

"You want my daughter to go undercover?" The women asks shaking her head.

"We'll have her surrounded by undercover. She won't be in any danger, he won't hurt her." I assure, knowing this would be our best option.

Benson adds on "when we have Albert in custody, we'll move past the child pornography charges."

"Fine." The mom grits. The girl goes to protest but she puts up her finger "unless you want to go to jail, this is what you're doing!"

The girls huffs out a big breathe and lowers into her seat. Benson nods at me and I stand up to get the phone from evidence.

I stand closest to Beth with Carisi, pretending to admire the architecture as we wait for Albert to show. A man fitting his description beings to walk closer to her and we know it's our guy. He's barely standing in front of her for long when he darts past her towards us. "Police! - Stop!" Carisi and I both yell, pulling out our badges. He turns and darts the other direction. "Stop stop! Police! Stop!"

We turn after him but it's Finn who takes him down easily. Carisi and him get him off the ground and handcuffed and we all head to the station. We get out DNA evidence back from the lab and have everything we need to move forward with charging him. "Just listen to him. This guy's done." Finn says as we listen to him sing a hymen through the speaker.

"DNA on Ryann's dog is a match, and he's got bite marks." I tell them, holding the file in my hand.

"Atlanta confirms the DNA is a match for all three of their cases." Rollins adds "he received several salutations for his heroism down there as well, and he was active in his church choir."

"Explains the hymns." Carisi says.

Benson disagree's "not really. Still, five rapes, one attempted. I'll call Barba."

"Plus Beth's selfies- that's possession of child porn." Carisi adds on the charges "he's looking at life."

Benson slows him down "all right, so call Atlanta. Let them know we're charging him."

Rollins nods, beginning to walk out "oh, I'm sure they're waiting to hear how thankful we are for all their help."

"What about the other rapes that match his M. O. ?" I ask, wanting to get him on everything he's ever done "Milwaukee, Vegas we could be looking at a dozen more here."

"So call them." Benson directs. "Ask them to test the rape kits.

"If they find them, and they want to spend the money on a cold case." Finnd reminds her of the problem the country is facing on rape kits being tested.

"So we shortcut it and get a confession." Carisi offers his idea, wanting to get him probably as much as I do.

"Guys, why is he gonna confess to more?" She asks "there's nothing in it for him."

"You never know." Finn answers her. She nods and the two men go into the box to interview Albert. I watch from behind the glass, willing them to get his confessions.

Finn goes in first, playing bad cop. He's good, getting in and out quickly causing him a bit of confusion. He leaves from the other door in the room and Albert looks at Carisi questioning what Finn was saying. Carisi sits across from him, playing his friend to start. He quickly changes his tone though, becoming more aggressive. Within moments he has him talking about the other rapes in the other states he has committed. "He got him." Benson whispers out with a smile.

"I'll move on the paperwork." I say leaving them to listen in.


	23. Chapter 23: Family is Family

Another 2 weeks go by without hearing anything about Doyle and his escape. I decide not to call anyone from the BAU or my father, knowing they'll contact me from now on if anything comes up. We just wrapped on a case about a girl found in a suitcase, drugged and left to die. It was an intense one, but cleared up and the right person went to jail. Our unit is getting a little bit of backlash from the media, so Benson is on our cases more than usual to keep things going smoothly and making sure things are run by the book.

"Hey. Can I help you?" Sonny says to someone walking in. I turn to see an older gentlemen, his jacket and scarf covering a suit.

The man answers "yeah. Where's Nicky?"

"Who?" Sonny returns.

"Nicky Amaro." The man answers. It's obvious now to me, this man is related to him.

Benson introduces herself "I'm his sergeant. And you are?"

The man smiles "you're the sergeant? I'm the father."

Her face enlightens at the realization "you're Nick's dad?"

He steps closer to shake her hand "yeah, Nicolas."

"How are you?" She accepts it.

Instead of answering that question he compliments her "my son never told me his boss was so encantadora."

Benson brushes him off "okay. Why don't you have a seat and I'll let him know that you're here."

"Thank you." He takes a seat next to our desks. "Nick. What's your name?" He puts his hand out towards Sonny.

Sonny accepts it "Dominick Carisi Jr. You can call me Sonny." His hand is released and he gestures over to me "and this my partner, Maddison Grey." He takes my hand and instead of shaking it he kisses it gently.

"Nicky never told me that all the women he works with are beautiful. Woowwee." He smiles wide and looks over to Sonny with a grin "how can you get any work done around here?"

Sonny laughs it off and stands, offering him his more comfortable chair. "I can't believe I'm meeting Nick's father. What a treat!" Sonny exclaims.

"He's a great detective, your son. We're lucky to have him here." I offer up as well.

"He's always wanted to do the right thing. My son, when he was just a kid he always had it out for the bad habits I had." His father shakes his head at the memories. "Like this one time, with my cigars." He looks to us as if we should know something about them. Sonny nods to him, I guess with some experience and I nod as well after, not needing a further explincation. "Well, some people roll them He unrolled them!"

"Wait, wait, wait, how old was he?" Sonny stops him, laughing at the thought.

"Five. Hand to God." Mr. Amaro continues "I come home, he's cutting up my montecristos. I said, "what are you doing?" He says, "smoking is very bad for you." We all laugh at the story, them 2 more then me. We all spot Nick emerge from the back and his father speaks up as he gets closer. "Speak of the devil. Nicky."

"What are you doing here?" Nick asks, his voice stern with annoyance.

"Aw You see how he talks to his father?" He dad semi smiles, but goes on "I just come by. Just to say hello. To talk."

Nick breathes out for a moment. "Yeah? Well, I'm working." He goes to walk around the desk, coming up behind me.

His father asks "sergeant, would you mind if I took my son to lunch? It would mean a lot to me."

Even from looking at Nick from in front of him I see him give Benson a look. She catches on and says "Uh, I don't know if now's the best time."

Sonny clueless to Nick's silent request adds "no. I got it. I can mop up with Fin.

"You know, that's nice. You got real friends here." His dad smiles to him. "What do you say, big guy, huh? You still like Chinese?"

Nick exhales deeply, annoyed. He looks to Benson. "I'll be 20 minutes." He tells her.

"Okay." She answers. Nick grabs his coat and walks out with determination for his lunch to be over quickly.

Benson and I both give Sonny a wide eyed look. He shrugs his shoulders "what?"

"You are so clueless." I roll my eyes and return back to my computer screen.

"Better get in there." Benson shakes her head with a smirk and walks away.

We work through the week, Nick burying himself in paperwork. Sonny signs out of his computer, putting his jacket on "Hey, when you're done racking up that ot, I'm going bowling at the piers." He offers to Nick. "Some friends from law school."

"Law school?" Nick asks with a snarl.

"They're not lawyers yet." He replies. "Some of them are hot. Well, they're not hot. They're pretty." Sonny smiles.

"Uh, rain check." Nick declines, barely looking up from his screen.

"Suit yourself." Sonny says back going to leave "take it easy."

"What, I'm not invited to go bowling?" I call after him from my desk before he can leave.

He shakes his head "you'll screw up the pretty to hot ratio, sorry Grey." He winks and continues his way out of the office.

I chuckle to myself and get back to typing up a report. "Why don't you two just tell everyone already?" Nick asks.

"There's nothing to tell, Nick." I respond with an eye roll.

"Oh, please. Everyone in the office knows you two are hooking up." He says back to me.

I pull my eyes off my screen and put them on him "1, you mean we should tell everyone like you and Amanda have told everyone? and 2, there is nothing to tell because we are not hooking up."

He gives me a know it all glare but keeps his eyes trained on me "you really aren't?" He asks. I shake my head no and put my focus back on my work. "Well damn, that's some serious sexual tension then between the two of you." He chuckles.

I go to say something back to him but his cell phone begins to ring so I just tell him to "shut up."

"All right, just tell me what's going on." Nick stands up quickly, grabbing his jacket and running out of the room.

"Nick!" I call after him but he doesn't stop or turn around to tell me, his focus on what's being said on the phone. I follow behind him, knowing whatever is going on that he shouldn't be alone. We get inside a car and the phone connection was lost. He drives quickly to a location, only filling me in on what little knows. "She's going to be okay Nick. It's okay." I try to calm him down, his knuckles white from clutching the wheel.

He pulls up quickly behind another cop car and we get out fast. He begins yelling out for his daughter. "Zara! Zara!" We get to an open ambulence and find a man inside. " Zara!" He calls again.

He spots his little girl who comes running up to him, jumping into his arm "Daddy, it was scary."

"Are you okay?" He asks her, kissing her on the forehead and looking at her intently. "¿Que pasó?" He asks his mother.

"One minute everyone was dancing. Then all hell broke loose." She explains to us.

Nick grabs a uniformed officer off the street "hey, uh Excuse me. This is my mother and daughter. Can you get them out of here? Make sure they get home." He directs them.

"I'm going to go find who's in charge here!" I tell him, moving away to see what I can do to help. I run inside the building and see a massive amount of people sitting and holding ice packs to different parts of their bodies. Most are calm now, talking to one another or an officer. It takes me a few moments to find the women in charge, standing next to Nick's father whose struggling against the officers trying to restrain him. "Mr. Amaro!" I call out going over to him.

I hold up my badge to women and she asks "who called SVU?"

"We have some ties here." I say.

Just as I say it, Mr. Amaro yells out "Is Nicky here?!"

"He's outside!" I answer back, maybe more confused then Nick about what happened here. "What's going on?" I ask the women as they begin to walk him out.

"We're still collecting statements at this time, you said your partner is outside?" She asks me. I nod my head and she thanks me, walking behind Mr. Amaro and the officers. As I look around, I can't help but feel bad for Nick and for everything this is going to do to him and his family. I know family isn't always easy, and having everyone see your dirty laundry can be quiet overwhelming. When I get back outside I go over to where Nick is standing, the women in charge talking to him "Okay, you heard her outcry, so we need your statement. Meet us at the hospital." She tells him before walking away.

He nods back "yeah. Yeah, okay."

"Hey, Nick! Are you gonna tell them? You're my son!" His father yells back as they get closer to the cop car.

"Just- Just do what they say." Nick yells back to him, his eyes glazed over.

"You heard her outcry? What did she say?" I ask him as we walk back to the car to drive to the hospital.

He shakes his head, getting into the passenger side and letting me drive "that my father hit her."

I don't say anything in return, catching on to the feel of the night and that this could possibly be old behavior that never went away. It was clear at the precinct the other day they don't get along, and this could be the reason why.

When we get to the hospital there are people everywhere running around and calling out codes. Nick and I stay close to the entry, waiting for further news on his father's fiance. Within 40 minutes of being there, Benson walks into the hospital "Liv. Hey, what are you doing here?" He asks as she walks in, not expecting to see her.

He eyes me from where I stand, wondering if I called and I shake my head no. "I heard about the fight. Is Zara okay?" She asks.

"Yeah, she's fine." He answers. "Nicolas was arrested. His fiancée has a head injury."

"Sergeant Benson." The Sargent on the case calls out to her. "Thank you for coming. Can we talk In private?" She asks, eyeing Nick and I.

"Absolutely. Look, I'll go call my mother, check on Zara." Nick says, moving to make the call.

Benson stops him before he can thought "Nick, it's probably best if you go home." He eyes her wide and goes to say something.

I step in before he can say anything "just go home Nick. I'll stay here. Go home."

He nods and leaves in a huff. "One second." Benson tells the two women who begin to walk away. "Next time, I prefer to hear about something going on with my detectives from one of my own." She snarls at me, annoyed she got a call from some other Sargent. "What's going on?" I hear her ask as the three of them walk away from listening distance.

The next morning Benson fills Finn, Carisi and myself in on all the details. After, she calls Nick in. He walks in and as soon as he shuts the door he says "if my father did something, I don't want anyone here risking anything on his behalf."

"Yeah, but now she's claiming some other guy sexually assaulted her?" Sonny sort of asks him, wondering if he knew anything about that.

He answer "I don't know anything about that."

Benson tells Nick "Well, in the meantime, Nick, you're back at the desk."

Nick goes to say something "Oh-" but stops before he does. He instead walks out of the office, slamming the door shut behind him. Benson gives us direction. "You three get me a timeline, witness statements, cell phone pics, any video footage from that party. And this guy she's accusing?"

"Javier Arenas." I say as Carisi looks down at his phone.

He reads the email "Ah, look at this. Up until a year ago, he was on the registry. Statutory rape."

"Start there." She directs and the three of us leave her office.

"I'll work on the social media and photos from the party!" I exclaim going over to my desk and getting started on finding everything I can on the incident.

The trial starts on Monday, without a plea and without proper cooperation from the fiance. None of the video or photo evidence from the party help our case. Benson stays with Nick outside of the court house, while Finn and Carisi go inside. I stay behind at the precinct, completing paperwork and holding down the precinct. The closing argument is on Tuesday, and Nick's Father gets off on both charges. Benson returns to the precinct with Finn and Carisi, giving Nick time off to deal with all the family drama.


	24. Chapter 24: Game Life

"Hey! over there!" I point out to an open spot for a gamer. Finn quickly snatches the controller, getting ready to start the match. "Move and I'll blow your head off." Finn comments while playing the game, shooting at the opposite team. "You want to hide now. Let's see if you can handle this grenade."

"Oh, look out!" I call back, hearing the footsteps behind him.

"Damn." Finn calls, the screen labeled with 'slaughtered' across it.

"Who did that?" Rollins asks.

"Behind you." Carisi directs to him as he spawns again.

Finn moves in the game "I'll kill him. Damn campers."

"What's a camper?" Rollins asks looking at Finn then at Sonny and I.

"Lazy creeps who just hide behind stuff." I inform her, knowing a thing or two about video games.

"They Don't engage. Wait until you try run by and then shoot you in the back. They're all pieces of crap." Finn adds on to my words.

A small group of boys from across the way laugh and Rollins chuckles as well "you were saying?"

"Enjoy the tournament." Finn drops the controller as he dies again.

We begin to walk away "this is awesome." Sonny comments looking around "this is better than Comic Con."

"Yeah." I agree, being the second one I've been too.

"Really?" Rollins asks looking at me with a wondering stare.

I shrug back at her with a small smirk. "Wait until you see the main event." Finn turns around and points to a T.V. "these teams practice eight hours a day. They are not newbs."

"Newbs?" Rollins asks, not following along.

"Short for newbies." I elaborate for her.

Finn and I chuckle when Sonny says "Oh yeah, that's much shorter."

We walk from booth to booth, game area to game area. "It's like overgrown boys, like, staring at a screen pressing buttons. Isn't there a basketball game on or something?" Rollins asks looking around.

"You seen the Knicks lately?" Finn laughs and Sonny joins in.

"Oh, hold up, there's that manny, the uhh, Leslie Connolly." I point forward to the cut out of 'Glasgoman.

"He's the one that babysat for the kids." Sonny remembers "the two girls who stabbed their little sister."

"Okay, he's the guy that drove all those Glasgow Man pictures?" Finn makes sure he gets it. "He's turning it into a video game now?"

"Hey, Leslie?" Rollins calls out to him, stepping closer.

"Hey." He answers, recognizing us.

"A little too soon, isn't it?" She asks.

He answers back, a bit nervous "detectives. What can I say? Trial created a lot of buzz."

I shake my head "yeah, you're taking full advantage."

He shrugs "well, the developers came to me. They were gonna make it either way.'" He turns the glasses towards us "want to give it a try? Virtual reality."

"Virtual reality?" Rollins asks.

"It's like you're actually inside of the game." He explains.

"I'm good." She smirks smuggly and walks past him.

We make our way to the main floor, getting ourselves up front to see the action. Finn and I are the only ones who are actually familiar with the game, but Sonny seems pretty interested as well. The tournament begins, and the three of us get invested right away, About half way through the match, Leslie makes his way to us, his face showing only concern. "Detectives," He calls to us once in front of us. "My co-worker thinks that someone's in trouble in the ladies room."

I look to Rollins who looks to me but the boys go along with the crowd and chant "Ohh!"

"Don't worry about it, guys. We got this." Rollins rolls her eyes and pushes her away out of the crowd followed by Leslie and I.

The two of us get into the ladies room and see the women standing up off the floor of a stall. "Hey, you okay?" Rollins asks going in first.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She says, putting her glasses back in place.

"Okay, 'cause we're a police officers. What happened?" I ask, offering to help her walk over to the mirror and sink.

She looks at her face "these guys. They just can't stand women in gaming."

She presses at the cut on her lip, wincing with pain. "What did they do to you?" Rollins asks.

"They leveled up." She back. Rollins to me and I look to her, giving her a knowing eye raise and head nod.

"I'll get the boys." I tell her, leaving the stall to grab Finn and Carisi.

Rollins and Finn fill Benson in while Carisi and I stay back to grab all the footage from the day. After being there for an additional hour, we head back to the station to go over what we have. The two of us sit at our desks, reviewing the tape that shows the bathroom entrance as well as the one near Sarah's booth.

"I got something." I tell Sonny.

He sighs with frustration when he see's we don't have their faces on camera "damn." He mutters. "Send it to the ipad." He directs me before walking off to get the others. "This security footage, it's like trying to find a geek in a geek stack." I tell them as I walk in, to Benson's office, being the last one in and shutting the door.

"Yeah, we got two suspects coming out of the ladies room. One's wearing a baseball cap, the other's wearing a hoodie." Sonny shows them the footage.

"We only got partial views of their faces." I add on thought.

"Well, you buy tickets to this on a computer, right?" Benson asks.

"Yeah, we're running the buyers' names against the Sex Offenders Registry right now." Rollins adds on, helping us with the footage.

"That's not what this is." Finn explains. "These guys want Raina Punjabi out of the gaming world."

Benson questions "just because she's a woman?"

"There's a lot of haters out there that think she slept her way into the business." I tell them, knowing a little bit about it.

"Oh, right, right, she's engaged to that venture capitalist, Steven Kaplan." Sonny remembers.

Rollins pipes in "Okay, so because her fiancé has money, that means she has no talent?"

"To them, and they want to take her down no matter what." Finn tells her.

"Then why attack Sarah? Why not just go after Raina?" Benson asks. "Finn, Rollins, head over to her office. Carisi, Grey, keep going with the footage, see if you can more on those two perps."

Sonny and I work on finding more angles of the two perps but we can't get a clear view of them at all. "So, you went to one of these things before?" Sonny asks me as we search through videos.

"Yea, the big one in Las Vegas." I tell him.

Sonny remembers something "isn't that were that Spencer kid is from?"

"It is. But I went with Penelope. She's into the computer games, kind of suckered me into it. But I learned a lot, got really into it." I tell him, fast forwarding a clip.

He hums, then asks another question "these guys hate all women in gaming?"

I shake my head "Gamer girls are more Gods to them, females who can kick ass gaming are legends. But female game makers are the total opposite. You don't see many out there having much success." I explain.

"Except Raina." He comments. I go to respond but I notice Leslie standing in the middle of the precinct, looking uncomfortable and out of place. "What are you looking at?" Sonny asks me, following my gaze and seeing Leslie standing there. "Let's see what he wants." He says standing up. I follow him out of the room and over to Leslie. "What do you need Leslie?" He asks him.

"I came across something on a forum." He pulls out his phone and scrolls through his screen grabs.

"When did this happen?" I ask him, reading what was being said.

He respond "a few hours ago."

"Get it pulled up on the screen. I'll talk to Benson." Sonny directs and I take Leslie over to the computer so he can pull up the live information for us. "Go ahead." Sonny directs once Benson and him have returned.

"After the tournament I wanted some feedback on Glasgow Man, so I checked a few gamer sites online." He explains.

Sonny elaborates for her "forums for players to rate games, comment, fulminate, spew-"

She stops him from going on "yeah, I got that, Carisi. And?"

"Came up on this thread. "Amazonian Warriors bitch got what she deserved."

"Lovely" I roll my eyes. "There's a lot of crap like that. Guys puffing their e-chests out, high fiving." I explain.

"It could be anybody." Benson says, not sold on the information.

"Hold on. Give me a second." Leslie comments.

"D. M. me for more deets on what an Amazonian Warrior's tits are like." Sonny reads off the thread Leslie just pulled up. "My boy and I copped a feel at the I. V. L. That could be one of our guys."

"Did you D. M. him?" Benson asks.

"I don't want to talk to that guy, that's why I came to you." Leslie responds back.

Benson drops her head for a moment "so I'm guessing that this message is untraceable."

"That's why we got to go with Leslie here." I smile at the game developer. "They know you. They trust you."

Sonny wraps an arm around him, knowing what I'm saying. "Which is why I'm deputizing you an official C. I. of the NYPD.

"What?" He stammers out "I don't want these guys knowing that I ratted them out.

Benson is on board with our plan "these guys are criminals, and if you don't cooperate with us, we're gonna shut your game down and invoke the Son of Sam Law. You can't make a profit from a crime."

He drops his head this time with a big sigh. "So let's get those deets from your buddy." Sonny directs him now that Leslie is sitting in front of the screen. "Tell them that you were in the booth next to that girl. That she was a complete bitch.

He starts to type "okay, here it goes." He says. "Now what?"

I respond "tell them that you doxxed the girl that was sharing the booth with her.' I look up to Benson to explain "Doxxing's when you publish personal information, phone numbers, passwords, online. See if he wants to hook up, talk about pranking her."

Sonny finishes explaining, leaning over his shoulder. "Tell him that you'll meet him there with a buddy. That'll be me." He looks to Benson.

"I got that too, Carisi." She semi smirks. "Get going you three." She directs us, giving final approval on the undercover sting.


	25. Chapter 25: Forced Help

Sonny and Finn get the 2 perps with an easy sting. We get the line-up set up within the same day and I walk Sarah into the room. "Now, all you have to do is look at the men and see if they are in there. That's it. If you see them, tell us their number." I explain before walking her to the window. She nods telling me she understands and we step closer, opening the blinds. "Okay, Sarah, do you recognize anybody?"

It takes her less then 7 seconds before she says "yeah, number three. He groped me."

I nod my head and say "okay, next window. Anyone here?"

Again, taking her only a few second she says "teah, that slope-browed son of a bitch, number 2."

"Great." I put my hand on her back moving her out of the room. "Have fun with that, counselor." I smirk back at the smug man lucky enough to defend these two scumbags. "Great job, Sarah. We're gonna be able to charge them, and the D. A. 'll be in touch." I explain.

"Oh, but we'll be able to keep it quiet, right? It's this big launch on Tuesday, and if anything interferes with that, Raina will, like, kill me." She asks, worried about her boss and the game.

"Okay." I say simply, not really sure why she's so worried about the game after being assaulted. It took less then 24 hours before the arrest went viral. The team sits around the TV screen, reading the different outlets. "This is what Sarah was afraid of. These comments, they're some pretty vicious stuff." I shake my head looking at them.

"Nice work, Gary and Zack, taking one for the team. Hope they gave it to her real good" Sonny reads one out loud. "They're treating the guys like heroes."

"They're not." Finn says,

"Look at this video." I point to the one underneath the post Sonny read "this guy's got a ton of hits."

The voice is altered but a single individual male stands in front of the camera. "Gary and Zack are sacrificial lambs crucified on the altar of political correctness. That slut Sarah got off easily. Do not go where you're not wanted, bitches."

"I hope we didn't just give the haters a recruiting tool." Sonny shakes his head after the video is done.

"Guys, unless there's a specific threat, there's nothing we can do about it." Benson says, leaving the four of us and going back to her office.

I let a deep breathe out and tell them "well, I'm going home to get some sleep. Night everyone!" I say to them with a wave. I get a call from Sonny a little after 10 "what is it?" I ask him, wondering if we've got a new case.

"Raina just got SWATted, you should get back here." He explains.

"Alright. Should I head over to her place?" I ask him, already up and and working on getting my shoes on.

He replies "Finn and Rollins got that, I'll catch you up when you get here." He hangs up and I take a taxi to the precinct to cut on time. Once inside, Sonny shows me the video that was live streaming of her getting SWATted. "Pretty intense for the viewers." He pauses it once it's over.

I shake my head "and for her. What are the forums saying?" I ask him, wanting to see if what the internet scum had to say about this. We caught the gropers this way, maybe other like minded slime will try to brag online as well. Sonny pulls up the forum and we begin to scroll through the comments, reading post after post about Raina and her terrible game. "This isn't good." I mumble as I read another.

We begin flagging on our screen the threats most credible and worth looking into. Rollins and Finn return with Raina and her fiance, filling us in on everything they learned while at her apartment. Rollins steps away to grab Benson and when we return Sonny introduces her "Sarge, this is Raina Punjabi and her fiancé and business partner, Steven Kaplan."

Benson shakes their hands. "Okay. Thank you for coming in."

"I didn't exactly have a choice." Raina returns, not happy to be here.

Benson nods "I understand some serious threats have been made. They hacked your company's website?" She asks.

"We're back online." Raina clarifies.

"Anything specific?" She follows up with another question.

"Yeah." I answer, pulling their attention to the screen "they're threatening violence against Raina and her female employees."

Benson reads it off the screen "Fair warning. If Raina Punjabi dares to go through with the launch tomorrow, we'll make sure that her raped and mutilated corpse is on the front page of every feminist blog by next week."

Sonny adds "that's a specific threat, not protected by free speech."

"And here's another one of his threats," I pull up the video and hit play"that slut, Raina, deserves all the pain that's coming to her. Her game is derivative, mind numbing garbage. She's a whore. She used sex to get where she is, and if she and her social justice warriors don't leave gaming now, we will make them." "And there are dozens of others like this. Threatening rape. Threatening attacks during the launch at the Birch Pavilion." I tell her.

"And we can't trace where these are coming from?" Benson asks.

"They upload it through the dark net just like the doxxing, so no." Finn tells her.

"Okay. And the launch is scheduled for tomorrow?" She asks Raina.

Her fiance answers "at noon."

"So would you consider postponing?" Benson questions.

Raina's eyes show how hurtful of a question that is to her. "This isn't a little lecture I invited my friends to. It is the launch event of an international game rollout. It's being live streamed in 18 countries." She continues explaining the importance of her game. "Every major gaming site is sending a rep."

"Yeah, I understand that, but these are public death threats." Benson reminds her the severity of the situation.

"All the more reason why we can't postpone." She goes on, "wver since the SWATing went viral, I'm being called the face of women in gaming. Tomorrow I'm doing an interview on CNBC. Then I'm ringing the opening NASDAQ bell."

Finn tries "I mean, you can do all that, but the launch itself, can't you tape it and stream it later."

Raina's eyes go wide and she respond "if we do that, they've won. I'm showing the world that I'm intimidated by cyber terrorists. I won't make the same mistake Sony did." She looks between all of us. "It's better to be called a bitch than a coward."

Her fiance ties to calm her "Raina."

She exhales out and says "look, I came down here, I'm cooperating, and I appreciate that you have a job to do. So just so we're clear, you have officially warned me. I accept all liability. But I absolutely do not want a visible police presence. No E. S. U. , no bomb sniffing dogs. Please." She pauses for a deep breathe then dismisses herself. "I have to go home and get some sleep." And she walks out of the precinct.

Her fiance thanks us, before following her out "thank you, Detectives."

When we can no longer here her footsteps through the halls, Benson talks "she's serious about her work, I get it. She doesn't want to be compromised. How many people are going to this thing tomorrow?"

"At least 500." I inform.

"Raina may not be worried about herself, but all the people in the audience?" Benson says out loud, something we all already considered.

Sonny comes up with an idea "yeah, we can't let this thing happen. I've got some friends at FDNY, I'm sure they could find some violations, shut the Birch Pavilion down."

Rollins disagree's with him, agreeing with Raina "Raina's right, we do that, the cyber terrorists win." Sonny purses his lips together a bit, knowing Rollins is right.

"Guys, we have the resources to keep a low key presence. Call the Birch Pavilion and coordinate it." Benson directs us and heads back to her office.

"I'm on it." Finn says moving to his desk.


	26. Chapter 26: Camping

The next morning we arrive at the Birch Pavilion at 9 to set up. Raina already rang the bell for the stock market and is about to have her interview before coming here for the premier. After getting every set up and reviewing the team, Benson splits us up "Finn and Rollins, you're with me on the ground. Grey and Carisi, you are watching the footage, keep an eye on everyone."

I nod back to her and begin to make my way to the security room. We get inside and within the next 30 minutes, they open the doors. Once it starts getting busy, we spend our time scanning the different screens, looking for anyone suspicious. "This is the worst." I mumble over to Sonny as we stand behind the men sitting at the desk. For events that involve high tech gear like gaming, you'd think they'd have something better for security.

"Carisi, what's it looking like?" Benson radios over shortly before the presentation begins.

He answers "we got a bunch of monitors with grainy footage." He lets go of the radio and asks the head of security "you guys ever think about upgrading your security systems?"

"Who are you, Steven Spielberg?" He sarcastically asks back "we're here as a courtesy. Come on. We got the situation under control. We haven't lost anybody yet."

"Well, let's not break that streak." I retort back, getting my focus back on the screen.

The presentation starts promptly at noon and we carefully watch the men and women in audience for any signs of disruption. It doesn't get that long into Raina's presentation before things go south. Our screens start to blur out, flickering black and white before coming back online. Only, the security company doesn't have control anymore. I watch as the lights in the main auditorium begin to flicker, beginning to cause chaos. I hear Benson call out into the radio and Carisi answer "someone hacked into the lighting board. The security system too." He encourages the lead man "tell me you got an override. Come on!"

"I'm going out there!" I call back already almost out the door to look for Raina.

As I run towards the auditorium, I can hear Benson talking into the radio "Carisi, Grey anything?" She asks us.

"I got her!" Sonny respond. "She's with a security guard in the back hallway." But before giving us any more information he hollers into the radio "back exit! Back exit!"

I make my way there as fast as possible and out of the back door. As soon as I'm out, I see a man in a security jacket "Police, stop!" I yell out to him, showing my badge. The guy tries to run, and I chase after him.

I manage to get a hold of him by tackling him to the ground. As soon as I have his hands behind his back, Sonny gets to my side "Get up!" He yells at the man, lifting him up from his shoulders after I get off the ground.

"He had Raina." Sonny tells us as he's cuffing the perp.

"I was trying to help her." The man pleads to us.

I get closer in his face "where is she?"

"I don't know." He stutters out nervously.

"Wrong answer." Finn adds, getting closer to him as well.

Another security man calls out "detective, she's up there!" We all turn our attention to the jumbotron on the street.

The masked men is tying her up, another in the back with him "Shut up, bitch." He scowls to Raina whose screeching for help. "Keep your mouth shut, or you're done. Do you hear me? Game on, NYPD." The man taunts us and the screen goes black.

"Where's that coming from." Benson calls. "Track it, Rollins. Track it now!" She demands and runs off.

"What, this wasn't my idea." The perp looks back to us wanting mercy.

"Do you think that matters?" Sonny spits back. "You're an accomplice to kidnapping."

The man folds "he said we were just gonna grief her. Smoke bombs. Laser pointers- things like that."

Finn asks "and the kidnapping."

He shakes his head "No one told me about that."

"Does no one have a name?" I ask him, needing more answers.

"A user name, Acid Rain, but I've never met him." He tells us quickly.

Finn demands more "what did he say exactly?"

"He said to bring Raina out the back exit." He tells.

Carisi asks "what, so they left you here? They threw her in a van? What?" He gives a few, hoping to get answers for them all.

The man's eyes are wide as he answers "I didn't know that they were gonna-"

Finn doesn't let him finish "what are you a patsy?"

Sonny adds on to it "yeah, God forbid something happens to Raina, you'll be looking at murder charges."

I play the good cop "if you know something, say something right now."

The man only has to think about it for a moment. "I saw the van. It was white."

"Take him in." I direct to Sonny, moving away now to wipe at the scuffs on my pants. "You alright?" Finn asks as Sonny walks the perp to a police car.

I look up to him, not expecting the question "just some scrapes, I'm fine." I assure, just noticing the cut on the knee's. I sigh with frustration "crap."

"Why don't you go get a change of clothes, I'll let Liv know." Finn offers the idea.

I nod at him and begin to walk down the road "Thanks!" I wave back.

I return the precinct a little over an hour later. I had to clean up the scraped on my legs and arms. When I get there, Finn and Rollins are not around. "Where is everyone?" I ask Sonny as I walk to my desk.

"We got a tip, found the van." He answers.

"You think she's still there?" I ask, knowing if they found the van it's because they wanted it to be found. He looks at me with the same glare and I nod my head, sitting at my desk and getting back to taking phone calls.

"Hey, Grey, look at this!" Sonny calls me over to his desk. I walk over, lean over his shoulder to see the live link posted to a site. We look at each other with knowing glances and he pushes himself out of his chair, getting in between Benson and Stephen to let her know we have something.

The three of us get into her office and she shuts the blinds behind us. Sonny pulls up the ipad and clicks the link "this link was just uploaded to Red Channet."

The man's face is close to the screen, Raina's as well, chocked with some kind of cloth. "This is what happens to smug bitches who mess with gamers. We warned you." The man throws her down on the ground and she pleads with them to not do what they are about to do.

Another man steps into the screen, and begins to unbutton his pants "where is this coming from?" Benson sighs out.

"All we know is it's streaming live." I tell her, the three of us unable to do anything to stop it from happening or airing.

Hours go by before we get anything further from the kidnappers and Raina. "Benson." I go to her office to let her know and she walks out with me. Sonny plays it and we all listen to her forced words. "I realize now that gaming is no place for females. So all you bitches should get out now. You are not wanted, and you are not safe. I also have a message for Steven Kaplan, I never loved you. I only slept with you so you'd back my game. I am a slut, and I am a liar."

Rollins turns it off when it's finished "and this is live too?" Benson asks.

"No, uploaded to Red Channet." I inform her.

"You do not want to read the comments." Sonny adds on.

"No, I don't." Benson confirms.

Rollins stops up "hold up, this upload is geotagged." She types a few things on the computer "look at it, South Shore, Staten Island. It looks like a residential address."

Sonny pulls up his tablet "yeah, yeah, I'm on it."

"Hold on. They've been using the dark net this whole time, and now they leave a trail?" I ask not having a good feeling about it.

"This is a trap. They're playing a game." Benson knows as well.

"We got to play too." Finn says.

"All right, the house belongs to Mrs. Marissa Rossi, public school art teacher she lives alone." Sonny says with the information quickly.

"Okay, should we call E. S. U.?" I ask.

Finn denies the idea, reminding me "we got to go easy, we don't want them to set us up to SWAT somebody."

"Just go." Benson tells us and the four of us are on the move to Staten Island.

We get to the house and bang at the door loudly "Can I help you?" The women opens it for us, startled.

"NYPD, Mrs. Rossi?" I ask as we already push ourselves in.

"Yes, that's me." She asks.

"Are you here alone?" I ask her.

"Wait, what's going on?" She asks us.

"Are you here alone?" Sonny pushes again.

"Yes, why?" She says.

"Because a woman was kidnapped, and her abductors were here in this house tonight." Finn explains to her.

"Oh, no, no. There must be some mistake." She shakes her head unable to believe us.

Sonny asks "Ma'am, have you been at home here all night?"

She answers "I got home an hour ago from my book club."

I ask "okay. Does anybody else live here?"

She shakes her head "no, just me."

"Who's this then?" Rollins asks pointing to a photo.

"That's my husband but he passed." She says, thinking she was asking about the older gentlemen.

"No, the kid. The kid." Rollins clarifies.

"That's my son, Anthony. He's away at college." She answers.

"Does he play video games?" I push.

"Yes. Why?" She asks confused.

"Where? Where does he play?" Sonny demands to know.

"The basement" she sheepishly answers him, slowly pointing to a door down the hall.

We walk down the stairs with our flashlights scanning "there's the camera." I point out once I see it.

"They raped her here." Sonny exclaims, remembering the video.

"Gun safe." Finn points out. He opens it and we all see "where are the guns?" He asks rhetorically.

We go back upstairs and tell Mrs. Rossi that she has to come to the station with us. We put her with a uniformed officer to bring her back as we begin to close the house down as a crime scene.

"It took a while, but Mrs. Rossi came to Jesus. Her husband was a gun buff." Sonny waltz's out of the room once he got the information he needed. "Two pistols, 20 gauge shotgun."

"Good job." I encourage him.

"Finn, do you think they're still following a gamer script?" Benson asks.

Finn explains the game "rape is a mod in level 16 of K. O. B. S."

Benson stops him from going on "hold on, so they kidnap and rape, and it's a game."

"It's like a user hack of the game, but once they make that move, there's only one path you can go." He says to her.

"Which is what?" She asks.

Finn and I answer together "kill or be slaughtered."

Rollins' phone rings and she answers it "Rollings." A second passes when she says "Raina"

She quickly puts it on speaker as she talks "they've got me in a garage, and I think they're gonna kill me. I need your help."

Benson asks her "Raina, are you using your phone?"

She answers in between tears "No, I stole one of theirs. Please hurry."

"Do you know where you are?" Rollins asks.

"They're holding me in a garage near Manhattan Bridge. There's a baseball field across the street."

I encourage her "okay, hang tight, we will be there as soon as we can."

"Oh, no. They're coming back!" She hollers into the phone and it goes dead.

Sonny goes to move "okay, we got to go now."

Finn slows us all down "this is the final level of the game. They call the cops and when they rush in to save her, they attack. This could be an ambush."

We look to Benson for her call. "call E. S. U. , tell them we'll meet them there."

We arrive at the garage, putting on our vests and getting ready to move. "If this is a set up they're watching us from somewhere." Finn explains as we settle in closer.

"Yeah, like up there." Sonny points up.

"We're on it." Rollins says and the two of them peal away to check it out.

"Okay. Any communication from the inside?" Benson asks as we huddle closer to the door.

The man answers "no, nothing since the call, and we can't see inside."What do you know?" He asks us.

"Three perps, two pistols, and a 20 gauge. If they are inside." She tells him.

"If?" He questions.

"We think it may be a setup." I tell him.

Just then the sounds of gun shots go off and someone yells out shots fired."

"All right, setup or no, we got to go." He directs and motions for his men to get ready. "Flash bang, go now!"

"NYPD. Nobody move." The voices begin to yell into the air once inside. "NYPD, get down. Let us see your hands."

Another man yells out "gun. She's got a gun."

"Don't shoot." I holler to them.

He yells back "she's got a gun."

"Don't shoot. Hold your fire. Hold your fire." Benson directs.

"I said drop it! Drop it!" He yells at Raina from across the women.

Finn steps past him, closer to Raina "okay, she can't, it's taped to her wrists. Don't shoot."

Benson and I quickly run over to her. "Raina." We both say. More bullets sound off and everyone yells out "down!"

Finn hollers out to us "coming out of the speaker right here."

"Okay. False alarm." Benson yells out.

I take a knife from my belt and go to free Raina "okay. Hey, just hang in there. We're here." I say as I work at gently helping her stand up. Finny comes over to me to help me help her up as she cries and barely stands.

"Benson!" I call over to my boss, hearing the gunshots from outside. She comes over and takes Raina from me and I dart outside, going to help Sonny and Rollins. I get up the stairs, hearing the scuffle on the roof. I move slowly through the gravel, gun up and ready to shoot.

I hear Rollins call to the men or man "drop the gun."

"Shut up, bitch!" One yells back, "you're just like Raina. Spitting in our faces." I come out from behind the wall, eyeing the man holding a gun up and pointed at Sonny. "She took away the one thing that we had."

"You heard what she said. Drop the gun." I demand from behind him, my gun pointed at him, an unexpected move. He goes to turn but I yell out "Move, and I'll blow your head off!"

"Okay." He says with a nod.

"This isn't a game!" I yell out to him, still trying to defuse him. "Drop that gun."

"Okay. Okay." He slowly starts to turn around and lower his gun. But as predictable as he is, he goes to lift it up again and I shoot him twice, the gun falling from his hand as the bullets hit him.

"You all right?" Sonny asks me, his breathe heavy. "What, were you camping back there?"

I shrug and smirk "I know. Bad form but effective." I smile, saying to him what Finn did just days ago.

I hand my gun over to Benson once she gets up there and we clear out the crime scene. I make my way back to the precinct to fill out the paperwork and make my report.


	27. Chapter 27: Poor Girls

We spend the next few days getting ready for an undercover sting on a sex trafficking ring. It's finally the night of the sting and we sit in the vans ready to move. "Benson, Grey and Rollins on Howard street." Benson says into the radio. "Party in progress. Street is quiet. What do you have on Lafayette?"

Finn responds back, sitting in with Amaro "car 1, all quiet here. Still freezing our nuts off."

Another office responds "funny, it's 70 degrees in Balmy a block west on Crosby."

"I'm not asking for a weather report, guys." Benson tells them, wanting the radio clear.

Rollins utters out "Carisi hasn't moved in 20 minutes."

"I'll goose him." I respond, pulling out my phone to text him. I send him 'Is that all you can look at?" I tease him, having eyes inside on him. He reads the message and texts back.

"Carisi says girls are on their way." I say to Benson who relays the message.

A few moments pass when Finn gets on the radio "I got a minivan with blacked out windows."

I call out what I see as they pull up and get out "minivan, two in the front."

Benson is the first to notice "wait a minute. We know this woman. That's Selena. We got her son out of Mexico."

Rollins respond "she's back to doing what she knows."

"Fin, Amaro, all units. The female handler is known to us." Benson directs. "We'll have to secure her before she gets upstairs."

"Copy that." Amaro calls back. "Targets are in position on Howard street."

"Copy that." The third car answers.

"We'll get the girls, you go up" Benson explains and we move out. All of our cars pull up quickly as we run out of our van and head towards Selena. "NYPD! Let's go!" I say into the cold New York air.

"Ladies, hands up. Hands up, you know the drill." Rollins and I go for the young girls first, not wanting any to split up.

"Come on, get your hands up. You know the drill, come on." I direct, starting to move them away from the house.

I stay with the 5 girls we arrested until their defense attorney comes. I hang out outside the interrogation room just watching, feeling every kind of sorry for the lives they've been forced to live. Some time passes before Rollins comes in to tell me "that madam we arrested went U.C. for 3 years on her own to get her daughter back."

"That's a lot of dedication." I tell her, still staring ahead. Most of the girls are dazed, and unfazed by the arrest that happened tonight. Showing how all too common of a occurrence it is in life.

Rollins shrugs from next to me "or she's lying. Finn and Benson are on their way with her right not to her apartment."

"Hmm" I hum out, not really having anything else to add on to the conversation.

Finn sends us a video of the wall the women has put together and the three of us begin to work on recreating it using our own tools and information at hand. By the time Barba gets to our office, we have the complete run down. He looks over the information, eyeing the board of evidence and links. "So, this woman was pretending to be a sex trafficker. That's a new defense."

"But the Toronto police confirmed that her daughter Ariel went missing three years ago." I tell him, starting to believe this women.

"Police suspected her boyfriend at the time of Brian Marks." Aamaro explains, going further into detail for him "he was a pot dealer."

"Then Marks died of a heroin overdose last year. Police were never able to implicate." Finn wraps up that trail.

Sonny adds on "trail goes cold. So Martha keeps searching. She follows leads from Toronto to Indian reservations on the border, Minneapolis, Chicago, then Buffalo."

Benson steps closer to the board, full of young faces "I mean, local precincts just blew her off. So she goes deeper into the life, right, completely putting herself at risk and pretending to be a madam so she could get closer to these girls."

Barba doesn't budge "touching story. Tell me how posing as a criminal and engaging in criminal activity doesn't make you a criminal?"

"She's recorded every single job that she's ever done, every single pimp who's ever supplied girls to the houses that she's worked for." Benson tells him. "I mean, she's better than any UC we've seen."

"That's because she wasn't undercover. She's an actual trafficker, and she's done." Barba stands up to leave.

Benson stops him "hold on, she's been searching for her daughter."

"I understand. And assuming that she hands over all her records and turns states evidence, I might take that into consideration." He says might as if it's a stretch.

"Oh, you might?" She asks, knowing how he meant it and he nods. "It's taken her three years to get this far. She's not gonna work with us unless we help her get her daughter back."

"She's not going back in." He assures her.

"Well, then maybe we go in for her." Benson tells him, looking back to us. We all nod, wanting to do what we can for these girls.

"Please, we can help you." I plead to the young girl I am talking to. She sits on the motel bed, tired from the nights events.

"You can't keep me here. You said I wasn't under arrest." She snarls back at me.

"You're 16 years old. There's a missing persons report out on you from West Virginia." I say to her. She doesn't say anything back to me so I add on "we can send you back home."

This gets her attention "home. My step-dad pimped me out to begin with, so-"

"Okay, well, we can put you someplace safe. We're not gonna put you back out on the street." I tell her, wanting to actually help her.

"What are you gonna do? Nail the windows shut? Lock the doors?" She asks sarcastically.

I respond "like Timmer?"

I can tell I caught her off guard as she asks "who?"

"I know he's rough with you." I say, as she stands up to walk away from me. "Timmer, Timmer. I've seen the photos." I let her know.

"Hmm, this?" She asks, lifting her shut up to show me the bruise on her side. "Yeah, that's nothing. Just let me go back, okay? I've got nothing for you."

I exhale slowly, taking a seat on the bed "okay, listen, come here. Help me out. Do you know this girl?" I open the file I brought with me to show her the photo "Ariel? She still alive?"

The girl bites her lip and her fingers before answering "maybe, she was pretty beat up last time I saw her."

I nod my head, closing the file and thanking her for the help. I meet Sonny out in the lobby "she was hurt last time she saw her, couldn't get much out of her." I tell him once he walks in.

"Pillar said the same thing, she was bootstomped." He shakes his head and I look down, only imagining what she and all these other girls went through.

We get back to the station and meet up once more once Finn and Amaro get back from visiting Selena in prison. "After we walked out on Selena, she had a lawyer call. She wants to see her son again." Amaro tells us.

"Well, I hope you didn't make her any promises." Is Benson's response. "Did she give up Timmer?"

"No, but she did give us an address to a party house in queens, Hollis Court Boulevard, says she and Timmer rotate girls there." Finn tells us and Amanda rights it down.

"Okay, anything on the owners?" She asks.

"LLCS within LLCS, you know how it is." I respond, already looking at it that way.

Benson turns around "Martha, do you recognize this?"

Martha steps up a bit and nods "I've been there. The madam's name is Tracy."

"Okay, do we run the block?" Benson asks next.

"Yeah, well, it's a rough crowd." Rollins elaborates "in the last six months, five 911 calls for assault, for drunk driving. They were all investigated, but no charges were filed."

"Somebody's paying off that precinct." Finn calls it.

Sonny eagerly suggests "how about I go in, I get eyes inside?"

Benson slows him down "how about we stake it out first so we know what it is we're dealing with?"

Martha spits out "but if you see Ariel, you move in."

"We will, if we can." Benson assures her.

The next day Carisi and Finn take the front of the house while Amaro and Rollins take it from a bit down the road. I stay at the a local station, ready to process any information at any given notice. Amaro and Rollins give me a license plate on a beer truck, and I start running the plate. Sonny and Finn return before the other two and we get the photos uploaded and sent to the tablet right away. Benson has me go in with her to talk with Martha as she looks at the photos. She begins at the start, quickly identifying Timmer. "That's Timmer" She says at the third photo.

"Okay, Martha, anyone else?" I ask slowly, wanting her to take her time and really look.

"I know that Asian girl." She slides through 2 more photos "and that's Nina. That's Ariel's friend." She looks at us "that's who I gave my number to."

"Okay, good, keep going." Benson encourages her.

"Um, No Ariel." Martha says distraught. "Nina says Timmer uses her a lot. Either she's injured, or-"

But Benson doesn't let her finish the sentence "listen to me, Martha. We're doing everything we can, all right? I'm gonna get started on these. And I want you to keep looking to see if you recognize anyone else. We'll be right back!" She nods her head at me and we leave the room to meet with everyone else.

"So Martha identified two of the girls and the pimp, Timmer." She tells them. "What's on the plates?" She asks.

"Upstate rental minivan. It's licensed to a nonexistent church." Rollins explains on the blue van Timmer was driving.

"The guy's cautious. He makes sure no one can follow him." Carisi adds on "so far, he hasn't crossed any Bridges or tunnels."

"Okay, so we know that the girls are housed in queens. But no sign of Ariel?" Benson asks.

"Not even in a disguise?" I push, hoping for something.

Rollins responds "no, most of these girls were ethnic. I mean, it's a lower-rent crowd than the loft."

"A little white girl like Ariel would be considered high-class." Amaro adds on "could be a special request."

"Snow bunnies bring in the big bucks." Finn comments.

Benson shakes her head "we need to get into that house."

"Tomorrow's super bowl Sunday. And we grabbed half of his girls at the Manhattan loft. So he is going to be working every single one of them that he's got." Rollins tells her.

"It's also a big day for beer delivery." Finn kind of smirks, knowing the game she's getting at.

"Your friend Tommy, he lawyer up yet?" Benson asks.

"Not yet." Rollins answers "I think he's afraid of calling his wife." Benson nods at her so her and Amaro go in to interrogate him.


	28. Chapter 28: Undercover Sting

Amaro goes in as the beer delivery and we wait for him to get inside and give us the information we need to move. Once in, Sonny, Rollins and I make our way to the front door ready to bust it open as Amaro's back up. We hear him holler out NYPD so Sonny kicks the door in, calling out "Hands where I can see them."

"Hey. NYPD! Hands up!" I yell out getting further into the house to check the room.

It takes only a few minutes to secure the house and make sure we have everyone corralled in one room. Rollins and I start by talking with the girls, getting names and ages. "This house is now our house." I hear Finn call out to everyone here.

"Which one of these is your phone?" Benson asks Tracy.

"The leopard one." She answer reluctantly "If you're the cops, where's the warrant? "

"It's on its way." Benson tells her "now listen to me. If you work with us, we'll work with you."

"What are you talking about?" She spits back to her.

Benson explains "The party is gonna go on as planned. But you're gonna tell us who's coming."

Finn gives more details "how many Johns, pimps, girls. No surprises."

"And when they bust them, we're gonna bust you too. You make it look good, nobody's gonna ever know that you cooperated." Benson finishes explaining it.

"If I say no?" She snarks back.

"Amanda, how many underage girls you got over there?" Finn calls behind him.

She calls back "We got two."

"Grey?" Finn asks me.

"I got 1."

I can hear the smirk in Benson's voice "you say no, you're talking federal charges."

"I didn't know, I swear." Tracy tries to lie back, badly.

"Save it." Benson shuts her up. I move over toward where Sonny, Benson and Finn are talking to her now. "This girl. She ever work here?"she shows her a photo of Ariel.

Tracy chortles "I haven't seen her in a week. Maybe she got arrested."

"She didn't." Sonny answers her snarky tone. "Make some calls, get her here."

Tracy whines back "yo, I don't even know who she with."

"Well, find out. And then tell the pimp that you got a special request. You got a whale here who's willing to pay top dollar for snow bunnies." Sonny tells her what she has to do.

"I'll do what I can." Tracy rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, you will." Benson comments back. "Stand up. Un-cuff her. Listen, anybody asks, I'm Bethany. I'm here to help you out for the day."

Finn adds on "and I'm your new supplier. I'm with some girls here fresh from Vice."

Sonny finally adds on "and I'm your whale."

When we all head back to the precinct, I can't help but feel sick about what this girl Ariel is going through and the idea that her mother has given the past three years of her life to find her little girl. I stare at Benson's door, waiting for Martha to come out so I can go in. Eventually, Martha leaves and I knock on Benson's open door. She tells me to come in and I shut the door behind her, a sign that I want this to be private. "Everything okay Maddison?" She asks me, using my first name.

I nod with a small smile "it's good. I just, I want to go U.C. on this." I tell her.

She eyes me strangely, wondering what I could possibly go under as. As if on cue, as soon as I raise my eyebrows she catches on "No, I can't have you do that Maddison."

"Why not? I'm only 27, I can look young if I wanted too." I tell her, knowing they need U.C's to look as young as possible for this to work. She shakes her head but I go on "You need as many girls as possible to make it look real, I'll stay close to Finn and Carisi in there."

She thinks about it for a few more seconds before agreeing "Fine. You know what to wear?" She asks me.

I nod and say "yes" heading for the door.

"Finn and I will pick you up tomorrow at 2." She tells me before I'm too far out.

Superbowl Sunday is here and I spend the morning preparing myself to look 16. I pull out my box of old Halloween costumes, finding the shorts I wore when I dressed up as a slutty leprechaun in college. They are tight, gold sequin shorts that sit over my hips but under my belly button. I found a tight short black crop top at a store while walking home the night before, showing enough cleavage to distract most men. I put on a pair of 5 inch gold heels I managed to somehow also have from a halloween party. I put my hair in two low pony tails, curling them just a little and throw on some sparkly eye shadow, blush, and fake eyelashes. I look in the mirror, feeling like I'm back in college.

We meet everyone at Tracy's house, Sonny, Amaro, Rollins and Martha waiting in a van. "Wow, you're going in like that?" Amaro asks once I step out of the car.

"I know this case better then the other U.C girls going in, seems smart to me." I tell him, trying to hide how freezing I am in the cold winter air.

"Here." Sonny goes to offer me his jacket.

Benson stops him "not now, we're going to go in now. Carisi, you're up in 30 and the other girls will be here in 10. Everyone ready?" She asks.

Benson takes the lead and I follow close behind Finn, playing as his special girl as we get upstairs. Tracy lets us in and we slowly start the party. Things start to get busy within the hour and we wait patiently for Ariel to show.

Sonny steps up to Benson and Timmer, complaining about waiting "where's my blond, huh? The skinny one with the nice rack?"

I hear her respond "she'll be here. Why don't you enjoy some time with Lucy, my partners own girl, while we work on that snow bunny, okay?" Olivia eyes me to go towards Sonny.

Sonny plops down onto the couch and I crawl on top of him, my legs hanging off the side "awh, what do you want baby? I can make you feel real good!" I pout my lip out and trace my finger up and down his chest, playing the part of a young pimped out girl, unbuttoning one of his buttons.

Sonny partly follows my finger as it goes down his chest. He stops and stares down at me. "Whatever I want?" He asks, playing the undercover John at the party.

I smile and lean into his ear "you know, they're recording everything in here. My eyes are not down there!" I playfully hit him in the arm leaning up after whispering that into his ear, grinding just a bit in his lap.

He smiles back, leaning up to respond to me "I'm just playing the game baby, making it look real." And when he pulls away he raises his eyebrow as if he just propositioned me.

I laugh at him, leaning back into his neck and say "you got it!" And begin to nibble and suck at his neck, below his ear while keeping my eyes scanning behind us. I can feel Sonny's hand run up my leg and stop at the edge of the small shorts I'm wearing, fiddling with the hem. His other hand squeezes my side, close enough to my ass to get a good grip of it. As I continue to play the part of a good working girl a man walks into the room and soon starts yelling. It happens so fast but I recognize Declan when I see him, clearly undercover. Sonny pushes me off of him and onto the couch as he stands up to him. "Hey!" I call out as I hit the couch as if I'm offended.

"Shut up, bitch!" Sonny returns to me, not even looking in my direction.

Declan moves past Olivia, whose probably trying to contain her shocked expression as much as I am "Never speak to a women like that!" He warns Sonny in a thick Irish accent "you're done!"

Sonny pushes at him "the game hasn't even started yet."

"It is for you!" He answers and goes to turn away.

"Who are you?" Sonny eggs him on "I don't know you!"

Just then Declan turns and clocks him in the face with a pistol and I squeal with the other girls, still in a role. I lean off the couch and go to help Sonny as he holds his face in pain.

My mind raises through the scenario playing while I cradle Sonny's head in my lap, wanting to help him. Luckily Olivia pulls out her gun, telling Declan to put his down as it points at Finn. Amaro and Rollins swoop in and yell out who they are, beginning the long train of them arresting colleagues to make this all end.

"Lucy! Let's go!" Rollins calls into the cell I'm being held in with the other girls sometime later. I stand up, ready to get out of these clothes and back to work.

She walks me into an interrogation room where Benson is waiting for me. Soon after I am in there, Carisi comes in with an ice pack to his face. "What the hell is going on?" He asks with a dark glare in his eyes. He plops down onto the chair, waiting for an answer

Benson exhales "that Bishop is our old Sargent. He's deep undercover in this trafficking ring." She says to us explaining more to him then to me.

"Does he know Ariel?" I ask her, wanting this to be over and the girl to be back with her mother.

She shakes her head "Timmer sold her to Johnny D, he's the leader in this organization."

"We need to get her Liv!" I pace a bit "I'll go Under cover, Declan can sell me to Johnny D, to find where she's being held." I ramble off.

"What! That's insane!" Sonny shoots it down as fast as Benson was about to.

"This girl is going to die if we don't get her out!" I yell at them, seeing all too much of the trafficking world being an FBI agent's kid. "I'll be fine!"

Benson puts her hand on my shoulder "we have one more play up our sleeve. Why don't you take your partner here to get cleaned up and change into something more comfortable." She recommends, eyeing the two of us. Neither of us answer, not wanting to be pushed aside now. "Well, you can hang out in there, or back in the cells with the others." She offers "they can't see you as cops yet."

I eye Sonny who slowly puts the ice bag back on his face. I exhale slowly and nod to Benson before walking over to the door and waiting for Sonny to sludge over as well. We make our way into the crypt to get a change of clothes. Sonny stands in front of a mirror, looking at his bloodied face and swollen eye "no matter how many times you get pistol whipped, it hurts just as bad each time." He touches at it lightly.

I chuckle, sitting down on one of cots "I've had my fair share of hits, that one looked painful." I respond sympathetically.

He comes back and sits to my right, putting his hands together in his lap "a little bit more ice and it'll be good as new." He tries to lighten up the mood.

I look over to him, noticing the small hickey I must have game him while on the couch "sorry" I mutter to him embarrassed.

He eyes me from the side and asks "for what?"

I gently touch below his ear where I left the hickey and his confused eyes don't change. He stands up to look back at the mirror and laughs one laugh when he sees it "well, at least something came out of this night." He says in a short breath.

"You call that something?" I tease him and he sits back down next to me.

"so" he puts both hands down on either side of him, behind his back "I'm sorry for the staring earlier tonight, I was really just trying to play the role right." He says sheepishly.

I laugh a little bit back at him "it's fine Sonny, I dressed like this for a reason. I was expecting the stares."

He nods, as if he was expecting to hear that "you did good tonight Maddison, under cover, I mean."

He tries to compliment me "you too, I think we really had everyone going." I take my hair out of the pig tails and wrap it up into a messy bun.

"Do you think it's because there's something between us?" He asks blatantly, throwing me off guard.

I eye him, tilting my head just a little. I try to respond, but don't know what to say. As if taking my cue of silence he leans up, closer to my face and places his thumb under my chin, pulling my lips closer to his. His lips meet mine, unyielding with passion. They are warmer then I've imagined, only then realizing that I have imagined them before and wanted this to happen. I started to respond to his kiss hungrily, like it's the only thing I've ever wanted to do.


	29. Chapter 29: Caught

I lay on the cot with Sonny on top of me as our mouths explore one another's. My hand runs through his blonde coiffed hair and I lightly tug at the bottom of it. In return he bites my lower lip, sending chills down my body. We don't stop this step forward in our relationship until we hear the door open. Sonny quickly jumps off of me but I can tell by Nick's stupid grin he saw enough. "We're leaving in 10 to get Ariel, Benson wants you both there." He says. He goes to turn around but stops and adds on "but I can tell her you're too busy if you'd rather stay here."

"Shut up Nick!" I roll my eyes and snarl at him as he walks away shutting the door behind him.

Sonny and I ignore what just happened and quickly go to our lockers to change out of our sting clothes, me going to the restroom to change. I begin pulling the eyelashes off of my eyelid as I walk to the car. As we speed off to the old garage Timmer gave us, I wipe at the glitter eyeshadow with the sleeve of my jacket. Benson calls out directions for us as we get closer, not wanting to wait any longer moving in. "Go! Go! Go!" Benson yells out after the door to the garage is busted down.

"Where is Ariel?" Finn calls out walking into the first room.

Amaro calls into the air "NYPD!"

"No, no, please, don't!" I hear a faint cry. "Please don't"

Carisi lowers his gun and goes over to her "Okay, take it easy.I got you."

"Please, no, please." She pleads as she's chained to a pole in the room.

I try and encourage her to calm down as well "It's all right, you're 're 're safe.- You're safe."

"Over there." I hear someone shout.

Someone yells back, maybe Nick "Hey, I need an ambulance!"

A few moments later we all meet up in the main hall now that the girls we found are with officers. "So far, three girls, all in bad shape." Finn explains.

"No sign of Ariel?" I ask.

Just then we hear a scream "let go of me! Someone help! Please help!" We all begin to engage towards the noise. "Let go of me! Stop it!"

We bust open another door and Benson hollers "Hey! Put your hands up."

Johnny D puts Ariel close to his chest and rests a piece of glass against her neck. "Let her go." I yell at him with my gun aimed at his head.

"Drop the glass." Amaro encourages.

Johnny D breathes heavily with thoughts racing in his head. "Drop it now!" Carisi yells.

"Drop the glass." Benson encourages. "Johnny D, it's over, all right? Hey. Let her go."

"This is the girl you want?" Johnny D laughs at us, as Ariel struggles against him. "Say good-bye."

"You kill her, you die too." Finn answers him "is she really worth it?"

"Let her go." I urge again, as he debates what Finn said.

"I want my lawyer." He demands.

"Drop the glass." Benson responds. He throws it down and Ariel runs towards us.

"Hands against the door." I hear someone direct and I catch Ariel in my arms as she basically collapses into an emotional heap.

I sit in the waiting room for Benson and she comes out of Ariel's room about 30 minutes after going in. "She's awake now and with her mom. They'll be okay." Benson addresses me as I stand up next to her. "That was a tough one." She adds on looking at me with a sideways glance.

"It was, I'm just glad we got her alive. It's not always a good ending." I return.

"That it isn't." She agrees "Let's get back."

When Benson and I get back to the precinct Sonny is already gone and Finn is typing a report up. We make our way into a holding cell where Amanda and Declan are already talking. Once the door shuts, Declan addresses us "guess you found your girl."

"We did." I semi smile.

"How is she?" He asks.

Benson shakes her head a bit "bruising, fractured ribs. That'll heal. The rest, though.."

She trails off but Declan finishes "One can only pray."

"So we took your man down." Benson tells him.

I elaborate on what happened "we found him in his lair with four sex slaves as prisoners. He'll be going away for life, for federal charges."

"Maybe." Declan responds. "He's trafficked for over 20 years, no paper trail, not a single arrest. Do not turn your back on him."

"Can you come in from the cold now?" Amanda asks him.

"You want me back in charge that badly?" He asks.

I hide a snort and Amanda sings out a "hmm."

He says now "Johnny D. was the king. For the time being, he's out of commission. That makes me the heir apparent." He looks to Benson "the gun charge. You should be ashamed of yourselves for the illegal search. It'll get dropped. I'll be back out on the streets in no time." He looks at all of us now "and every trafficker in the northeast will be kissing my ring. So make it look good."

"Cuffs?" Benson asks.

"By the book." He assures "till we meet again." He stands putting his hands behind his back as Amanda moves to cuff him. "You have a good team here. Take care of yourselves." He tells Benson.

"You too, Declan." She says back and Amanda and I take him out of the room to booking.


	30. Chapter 30: A Guest

I finally get to go home around 2 in the morning. Johnny D's arraignment is in the morning at 8 and I'm hoping for a few solid hours before heading there. As I approach my front steps a see a body sitting in the stoop with their head resting against the rocks. "Sonny?" I ask once close enough to see his swollen face. He registers me being there and stands up "what are you doing here, it's like 12 degrees out here!" I go closer to him and to my door to open it and let him in. I enter the numbers to get in and the door unlocks for us.

"I think we should talk about what happened earlier." He says once the door closes behind him, blocking out the cold air.

I look at his face which is painted red from the cold and I usher him to the elevator. "You're freezing!" I push the button and it opens instantly and I grab his hands once the doors shut and notice only then the flowers he's holding.

"These are for you." He offers it to me now with a sort of smirk. I take them and tuck them under my arms. I take both of his hands in mine to try and warm them up. "Maddison." He says my name, causing my knees to shake underneath me.

He tries to pull his hands away but I hold them firmly in my grip. "We will talk about it, okay? Let's just get you warmed up first, yah?" I ask looking up to his crystal blue eyes. He nods back and the elevator opens at my floor. I pull him towards my apartment with one hand and fish out my keys awkwardly with the other as the flowers rest under that arm. I manage to get them out and get us inside. "Take a seat, want coffee or tea?" I ask already moving to the kitchen.

"Tea, please." He answers and I fill the pot with water to boil. As it starts to warm I look to Sonny whose still rubbing his hands together. I move to a closet I have with extra linens and grab a wool blanket. I go over to wrap it around him and he thanks me as I do. "I didn't know it was going to be the coldest night of the year." He tries to joke to lighten the mood.

"You know, you could've waited for me at the precinct. Or called me." I remind him of a thing called cell phones.

He shrugs one shoulder "I didn't want anyone else around when we talked about it." The tea pot begins to whistle and I go over to pour the water into the mug. I bring Sonny the only tea I have and he wraps his hands around the mug. "So, can we talk about what happened now?"

I sigh and nod my head trying to hide my smirk "we can and I'll let you go first." I place myself against a pillar, perching a foot on the wall and resting my hands at my side.

"I'm sorry I let it get that far Maddison. I don't know what got into me but it was completely unprofessional." He starts off, hurting me a little. I was hoping to here about how much he enjoyed it, as I did.

"It was." I simply agree, not wanting to confess something different.

"We can't let that happen again." He continues and I nod looking down at my own fingernails to hide my pained expression "at work that is."

"What?" I look back up to him and he's now smirking back at me.

He returns back "I can't stop thinking about you Maddison, and I can't stop thinking about before." He stands up, shrugging off the blanket and walking over to where I'm standing against. "Tell me you don't want this and I'll go." He whispers as his breath roams across my face. His body close to mine where I can still feel the coldness that he brought in from outside against his suit as it is brushed against me.

"I've wanted this for so long." I manage to spit out barely above a whisper. His lips quickly brush against mine and he lifts me up and against the wall. I wrap my legs around him and put my hands around his neck. His lips are chapped, probably from sitting outside but their the warmest lips I've ever felt. His tongue roams around my mouth, playing with mine as we enjoy this blissful state. He swings me around and starts to nibble at my neck as he moves to the couch in my small living room "mmmm, my rooms right over there!" I manage to hum and point between my panted breathes. He begins to lower me to the floor and I let my feet touch the ground as his eyes stare into mine.

"Are you sure?" He asks, trying to hide a grin.

I roll my eyes "didn't you hear me, I've wanted this Sonny." I assure him and pull him by the hand to my bedroom.


	31. Chapter 31: Fun Times

**WARNING: SMUT ahead**

Once in, we quickly make our way to the bed where I straddle on top of him and his legs lay off the bed. His hands find their way under my shirt and hold me at my waist. I use my own hand to work at loosening his tie and kiss at his neck. He moans as I suck at his skin, causing me to lose my patience and growl with frustration. "Let me help, doll." He removes his hands from my waist and goes to help remove his tie. I watch as he easily removes the knot and feel my core dampen further with the need to feel him inside me. I take my hands to the hem of my shirt and pull it over my head. My breasts stay firmly propped up from the push-up I wore for the sting and I lower my lips back to his as his eyes graze over me. His hand finds its way to one of my breasts and he begins to rub at it over the bra. I feel his member thick underneath me and begin to grind a bit on him, wanting him to take it the next step. He leans up onto his elbows and quickens the pace of our kiss to match the pace of our hump. "You have protection?" He pulls away momentarily out of breathe. I nod with a smirk and quickly crawl over to my nightstand to grab a condom. I work at the buttons of my pants as he works on his belt and we're quickly left in only our under garments. His eyes gleam with anticipation matching my own and he suddenly throws me down onto the bed on my back and straddles me "you're beautiful Maddison." He tells me, leaning down to kiss me.

"Shut up and screw me Sonny." I roll my eyes and demand of him.

He basically growls at me and begins to lower his kisses down to my breasts, moving my bra to the side to suckle at my nipple. I lower my right hand down his chest and under his boxers where his cock is hard in my hand. I begin to rub my fingers gently over it, happily pleased with his size. His kisses begin to trail down my stomach further causing his body to lower and me to lose contact with his member. I basically pout and he pauses right at the top of my underwear and looks up at me "you want it that bad?" He asks.

"Please!" I plead loudly.

His hand finds its way quickly up my thigh and to my entrance. He uses two fingers to enter me and his grin turns to a full blown smile "you do, huh?" He removes his fingers after two more pumps and quickly pulls down my underwear. He takes the condom from the bed and rips at the wrapping.

I lean onto my elbows to kiss his chest and use my hand to help him put the condom on. Once on, he lowers himself back down on top of me and we lock eyes as he slowly pushes himself inside of me. "Uhhhh, yes!" I hum with the pleasure, putting my head back against the pillow and start to ride out the ecstasy.

"Look at me." He demands as he begins to push himself further inside of me. I open my eyes like he said and we keep contact, pulling me closer to my orgasm sooner then I'm used to. Any time he leans down to kiss me he keeps his gaze on me till the last second and when he's done he looks right back at me with those lusting and perfect blue eyes.

"Sonny, I can't!" I begin to feel the sensation of my orgasm make its way through my body.

I start to tremble, trying to hold back "cum baby." He demands again and the way his voice lowered along with a few heavy thrusts, I lost it.

I moan his name as I cum "Sonny, yes. Ohh. Mmmm. Yesss."

And as I ride the rest of my high, I feel the condom warm with his sperm and him tense with pleasure as he let's go "uhhh Maddison." He says my name, slowing down his thrusts, eventually coming to a stop.

I smile up at him and he finally looks down at me and asks "what?"

"You're O face is adorable!" I exclaim and he rolls his eyes beginning to move himself off of me.

"Shut up!" He tries not to laugh as he stands. He moves to my bathroom to clean up and I stand up to put my underwear back on. Once he's out, I clean myself up and go back to my room where he's laying on my bed in his boxers with a grin on his face and an arm open "c'mere!" He waves me over with his head. I crawl onto the bed and into his arm where he wraps it around so I'm snuggled onto his bare chest "you're an amazing women Maddison, you know that?" He asks, starting to rub his hand up and down my bare back.

"You ain't seen nothing yet baby." I tease back and he chuckles. After a few moments enjoying one another's company I look up to him as his eyes are closed but his hand continues to rub my back "where should we go from here?" I ask the obvious question.

"Why don't we do couple things outside of work and just keep it on the low around Liv." He offers, keeping his eyes closed like he already knew what he wanted to say.

"Couple things, huh?" I ask.

He finally opens an eye and wittingly responds "I'm hoping to have you all to myself, is that alright?"

"Yea, I think I like that." I lean up and kiss him and we soon start session number 2.


	32. Chapter 32: Morning

**Warning: SMUT Ahead**

My alarm goes off at 6 and I quickly turn it off, turning over to see Sonny, eyes closed and half covered by my sheet. I go to move out of the bed quietly but he moves his arms around my waist and groggily says "as I remember, you'll only need about 30 minutes to get ready. That leaves about an hour and a half for some other things." His tired eyes stay closed and his mouth forms a small smile.

I snake my arms around his neck with a little laugh "yah, but I need to shower this time."

"Mmmm, 30 minutes should still be enough." His smile turns devious and I grin along, getting at what he's saying.

"Let's go sleepy." I kiss him once on the lips and pull myself out of his grasp and make my way to my shower.

I turn the shower on hot and let it warm up using the restroom before getting in. Once inside, I let the hot water run over me. Sonny enters not long after that when my back is turned to the door and he wraps both his arms around my waist and moves my wet hair to the side to start kissing at my neck. I lean my head back with my eyes closed enjoying his soft lips on my skin and his wet body against mine. After he kisses across my shoulder his hand finds its way to my core and he starts to rub at it, pulling me close into his body. His movements get faster as my breathing does, and it doesn't take long before I start to feel my knee's weaken with my orgasm and my body react.

His movements get faster as my breathing does, and it doesn't take long before I start to feel my knee's weaken with my orgasm and my body react

After, I turn around and kiss him a few times, letting the tingling sensation where his hand just was wash away. I take my loofah and put some soap on it, beginning to soap Sonny with it. The soap basically washes off as soon as it goes on and I make my way south with it. After rubbing his cock with the soap, I lower myself as if I'm trying to wash his legs. As I get closer to the floor, I drop the loofah and begin to rub at his cock with my hand. He hums out a little laugh but moves back a little to be against the wall for better support. I run my tongue over his long member and he moans with pleasure. I start to put him into my mouth, bobbing back and forth to get as much as I can of him inside of my mouth. One of his hands find my head and he gently thrusts himself a bit further into my mouth as he gets closer to his release. "Okay baby." He trembles his words and pulls himself out of my mouth. He uses his hand to finish himself off and once I stand he uses the other to grab me in and kiss me. Once he's gone, his other hand finds my waist and we spend a few minutes kissing each other underneath the running water. "If I don't get out now, we'll never get to work." He eventually pulls himself away from our kisses and looks me in the eyes.

"Mmm, come back." I try to kiss him again.

He accepts but only for a moment before pulling me back to reality "I have to go change before court. I'll see you at the hearing." He kisses me once more before opening the shower door and letting all the steam out.

I stand there with a dumb smirk on my face as I listen to him change and leave my apartment. I only then start to wash my hair with my pruned hands and get out and get ready for work.

I get to the courthouse with a few minutes to spare and Sonny is already there with Benson, Nick and Amanda. "How was your night?" Amanda asks as I go over to stand with them.

"Slept better then the previous ones." I try not to look at Sonny's reaction. We may have only gotten 2 hours of sleep, but it was a damn good 2 hours with him there.

Benson adds on "same here. I'm glad we were able to get Johnny D off the streets."

"Let's just hope he doesn't have some bogus story for it." Sonny says and we all agree.

The hearing starts promptly at 8 and I sit in the back row with my fellow detectives. Barba, Benson and Ariel's mother sit in the front.

The judge starts the hearing after everyone is sworn in "John Drake, otherwise known as Johnny D, how do you plead?

"100% not guilty your honor." Johhny D answers coldly.

"Counselor?" The judge asks.

"Not guilty, your honor." He answers "We request R.O.R. My client has never had so much as a parking ticket." The sleezy lawyer tries to get him off.

The city's DA argues "Your honor, he was found in a hell hole with girls imprisoned as sex slaves.

"He knows nothing about that!" His lawyer defends. She states back "they were girls he trafficked, bought and sold. He was taken while holding a piece of glass to one victim's neck."He was also being held against his will when who he perceived as strangers burst in." The lawyer lies and I look to Amanda then Sonny with an annoyed glare. "The minute he understood it was police, he surrendered"

"Your honor, he's looking at life in prison. He has the means to flee. There may be other women in jeopardy. If ever a situation called for remand-"

The city DA doesn't get to finish as the judge speaks. "Agreed. Mr. Drake, you are remanded to a federal penitentiary pending trial." She bangs her gavel and we all look to each other with approving glares.


	33. Chapter 33: An Author

Two days later, I am sitting at my desk across from Sonny writing up yesterday's sexual assault case when two women walk in together "Hi, we need to speak to whoever is in charge here." One of them states looking around.

I stand up and move over to them "Alright, why don't you two come take a seat and tell us what's going on." I gesture towards the chairs by our desks.

"Are you in charge?" The blonde women looks at me, already knowing I'm not. I look at Sonny with a nod and he starts to walk over to Benson's office.

"Why don't we head over there." I gesture for them to follow him and they do.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Benson asks once they walk into the office.

"We want to report a sex crime. A rape" One of the girls say as I finish shutting the door.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Why don't you have a seat?" Benson comes over to the side of her desk and the women sit in the chairs. "Which one of you-"

"It wasn't one of us." The brunette answers.

"It was our father, Walter Briggs." The Blonde explains.

The name is familiar but I can't place it. Sonny eagerly comments "The novelist? I'm a huge admirer." He starts rambling "I've read every one of his books ever since-"

I know to stop him from continuing his rambling "so what happened to him?" I say, as Benson carefully eyes Sonny.

"His wife, Charmaine, she pumps him full of erectile dysfunction pills and makes him have sex every day, which is dangerous, considering he's got a heart condition." The brunette says.

"He's divorced from both our mothers." The blonde adds on "Charmaine won't let us see him."

Benson asks "so how do you know this?"

"His housekeeper told us." One answers "she feels terrible, but she doesn't know what to do."

"That may not technically be rape." Sonny tells them as carefully as he could.

"Penal law section 130.25 Sexual intercourse with a person who is incapable of consent because of mental disability or incapacitation." The blonde sister elaborates while looking at him. He puts on a sort of impressed smirk. "Our father is almost 80 and has dementia. He does not consent. He cannot consent."

"Did you look that up?" He asks, his weird grin turning into a sort of smile.

"I'm in law school." She answers.

"Oh, where? I'm in Fordham, nights-" He goes to chat.

"Carisi?" Benson stops him. "Why would she be doing this?"

"Our father's will divides his estate in equal shares between his current wife and his children." The other sister explains to us.

So I say what they aren't saying out loud "your stepmother wants a child so she can have an extra share."

"So she's raping him." The brunette affirms her accusation and they look to Benson for her answer.

Benson exhales, thinking about it for a moment when she looks to me "Grey, Carisi, go call the housekeeper, ask her to come in." She directs us and we move to leave.

I bite the inside of my lip as I walk out of the room once Sonny opened it for me "I can't believe we're working a case on Walter Briggs, he's a legend." He says to me.

"Huh." I simply return back.

"Everything okay?" He asks once we are at our seat.

"Sure." I simply put, typing at my computer to find the housekeepers name.

Sonny stands back up and comes over to my desk. I eye him from the corner of my eye looking around the room "come on, I can tell somethings wrong." He urges me.

"Nothing, someone just seemed real eager to chat it up with ms future lawyer in there." I say, not really hearing how childish it sounded until it came out of my mouth.

He sort of chuckles "are you jealous?" He leans down to whisper in my ear, pretending he's looking over my shoulder at my computer. I give him a death glare and he leans up "come on Grey, you know you're all I got my eye on." And he stands up to walk back to his desk.

I try to hide the blush that's forming on my face by putting my head down and writing the number of the housekeeper on paper "here, why don't you charm your way with this one to get her to come in today." He takes the paper with a smile and starts to dial the number "I'll tell Amanda and Nick we're on a case." I get up and walk over to Amanda's desk where she's typing her own report.

Sonny goes into the room to ask her questions alone and the rest of us stay outside watching "So, you've worked for Mr. Briggs a long time?" Sonny starts the interview.

"Yes, I've worked for Mr. Walter for 30 years." She answers in an accent."His daughters told us that you had some concerns." He goes on.

She nods "I do. When Mrs. Briggs find out, she'd fire me in a skip second." She returns though with worry.

"Now, we'll do our best to keep you out of it." Sonny tries to assure her.

"What's she's doing to Mr. Walter is wrong. Giving him them pills." She shakes her head a little "He doesn't know, but I see her. A man his age, he needs his ease."

Sonny asks "does he know what's going on? In general."

She sort of smiles "he was brilliant." But it starts to fade "now he's got gaps. Big, empty spaces." Just then something ticks and she looks down at her watch "Oh, she don't like me to be late."

"Okay." Sonny stands up to allow her to leave "thank you for coming in."

She goes out one way and Sonny the other to us "well, the housekeeper confirms."

"Okay, so Mr. Walter as in Walter Briggs, the writer?" Amanda asks to confirm.

"Yeah, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award." Sonny elaborates on his accomplishments.

"Well, he's nearly 80, and his wife-" Benson starts to talk.

"His sixth wife." Nick corrects.

Benson continues "who's 45 And making him have sex constantly."

"Is that a crime or an old man's dream?" Amanda asks, causing Nick to grin a little.

"The daughters say that she wants another child, so if he is incapable of giving consent, then they're right, it is rape." I say, not agreeing with Amanda's tiny joke.

Sonny goes on "yeah, and the fact that the alleged rapist is his wife is legally irrelevant but, I mean, of all the people I mean, have you guys read Briggs' book "The Fifth Assailant"?" He pauses for a moment, hoping someone would say yes. "The guy is a literary genius."

"Isn't he the literary genius who threw one of his wives through a plate glass window?" Nick asks.

Sonny pauses again before answering "Yeah, there's actually a scene based on that in the book."

Nick and I exchange a weird glance but Benson quickly speaks up "Okay, so the complaints are coming from his daughters, right? What's in it for them?"

"A bigger slice of the estate?" I ask.

"No. Love, devotion, maybe concern?" Sonny tries.

"Right." Amanda snorts back.

"We've got an allegation, we have corroborations, so you three, go speak with the happy couple." Benson directs to Sonny, Amanda, and I. We go to walk out and Benson hollers out "And Carisi, as a detective, not a fan." Amanda and I share a quiet laugh together as we grab our jackets to go.


	34. Chapter 34: Pushing

Once inside, Mr. and Mrs. Briggs sit together on the couch and begin sipping the tea their housekeeper put out. Sonny and I stand across from them on other sides of the room. " I should say I'm still not quite sure why you're here." Mrs. Briggs says a bit confused.

"It's called a welfare check. We do it from time to time, mostly with seniors." I tell them.

Walter smiles back "I'm guessing that would be me, huh?" He winks.

Mrs. Briggs responds "oh, dear, did my husband's daughters call you?"

"They did express some concern." Sonny answers honestly "they said they weren't allowed to see Mr. Briggs?"

"This is one of those difficult family situations. Stepmother, stepdaughters. I'm sure it happens all the time." She tries to explain.

"I'm sure it does but actually, Mrs. Briggs, would you mind if we-" Amanda stands up and stands between Sonny and I "if we spoke separately? It's just standard procedure."

"As a matter of fact, I do mind. Walter and I don't keep secrets from each other, do we, Walter?" She says as she holds his hand and scoots closer to him on the couch, making this a bit more difficult then we hoped.

He answers her "not really, no. I humor her." He winks again at us.

"So what exactly did you want to talk about?" She asks us.

"It's pretty personal." Sonny tells them.

Amanda adds on "pertaining to your sex life."

Charmaine asks, shocked "and that's a police matter?"

Walter pipes in "79 and stiff as a varnished eel."

"A varnished eel." Sonny repeats his words and looks at me then Amanda with a weird grin on his face.

"My third wife took up with a bartender because I got distracted by my book on the pope

"My third wife took up with a bartender because I got distracted by my book on the pope." Mr. Briggs continues "now, you spend six months in the Vatican, and you'll see what happens to your testicles." He specifically looks at Sonny.

"Roman Follies, It was a wonderful book, sir. I read it in college." He answers, not able to control his complete fan boy moment, knowing exactly what he was referencing.

"Thank you." He responds.

Charmaine adds on "all of his books are wonderful."

"Okay, so Mr. Briggs, you're happy to keep your wife satisfied?" I ask him.

He answers immediately "well, of course I am. I mean, just look at her." He glances at his wife. "Moreover, I'm obliged. It's a man's duty to nature." She begins to blush. "A million years of evolution, you know." He continues on "oh, these feminists, they can preach and screech all they want, but until the day that a man suckles an infant and a woman goes out and hunts, and-" He starts to hesitate continuing and his eyes start to glaze a bit.

"A woman goes out and hunts, and.." Sonny repeats, wanting to hear the rest of what he has to say.

"I'm sorry. What?" Walter asks, blinking a bit.

"I'm sorry." His wife moves to stand up "my husband's very tired, but as you can see, we are fine." She says to usher us out so she can address her husband.

We call Benson as we exit and she tells us to meet her at Barba's office to go over everything with him. As we arrive, we meet in the hallway waiting for him to exit his briefing and fill him in on this case. Some time passes but when he comes out, Olivia starts explaining everything we got to him. "You're kidding me. His daughters are complaining, but he isn't?" Barba asks in a sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, he says he's doing his manly duty by keeping his woman satisfied." Sonny responds.

"So he's consenting to the sexual activity?" He reiterates his question.

Amanda answers "him and his varnished eel." Getting a weird glance from Barba.

"Okay, but is he capable of consent?" He asks more questions "I mean, what's he like?"

Amanda's phone rings and she moves aside to take it. "I don't know." Sonny answers "he winked at Grey a whole bunch. He quoted from an essay about manly men that he wrote in "Playboy" in 1972, and then just like that," he snaps to show emphasis "he goes off into ga-ga land. It was sad. The guy was a titan."

Amanda steps in "listen, that was the housekeeper. Mr. Briggs just went to the hospital. Apparent heart attack."

"The daughter said that he had a heart condition." I say out loud, reminding Barba of that important fact in case he missed it on the walk in.

"If the wife knew and was secretly feeding him those pills-" Benson looks to him.

Sonny adds "yeah, that's assault three. Recklessly causing physical injury to another person, maybe even attempted murder. Am I right, counselor?" He asks Barba.

"Seldom." Barba answers back then looks back to Benson "unless the daughters can give you proof that the wife knew about the heart condition and was exacerbating it, you've got nothing."

"Carisi, Grey with me. Rollins, meet up with Nick and go talk to the sister." Benson directs and we all step out of Barba's office.

We get to the hospital within the hour and show our badges to get through the door. Once inside, Benson addresses the Dr. "Dr. Tedroe?"

"Are you here because of the incident?" The Dr. stops walking down the hall and asks us.

"Yes, we're wondering if Mr. Briggs' heart attack could have been caused by his E.D. medication?" I ask, hoping for a good answer.

She doesn't give us one we like "I don't know. I never got the chance to take a complete medical history."

"Why not?" Sonny asks, him and I making brief eye contact.

"I thought that's why you're here." She responds. "His wife arrived 20 minutes ago with a private ambulance and removed him from the hospital against medical advice." At this point we are already walking down the hall to where he was set up. "She pulled him off the EKG monitor and was in such a hurry, she took our IV pump with her." We get to his room and see the scene. "The nurses didn't try to stop her because Mr. Briggs needed it to maintain."

"Can he maintain outside the hospital?" Benson asks.

Dr. Tedroe gives us her best advice "maybe, maybe not. His wife has put his life in jeopardy."

"And you just let her take him?" Sonny asks with a bit too much anger in his tone.

"His wife said she was transferring him to another hospital." The doctor defends herself, not being able to do much else under her circumstances.

Just then, the two daughters get to the door and state "we got the court order" when they notice the empty bed behind us they ask "where's our dad?"

"He's not here." Sonny answers, not really thinking of his choice of words.

"You mean he's... gone?" The blonde asks.

"No, no, no, no. No, he was... more like taken." I say, trying to better explain what happened.

"Alright. Grey, start calling around to other hospitals in Manhattan." She directs me and I leave the room instantly to start making calls.

After calling every hospital in Manhattan the three of us get back in the car and drive to find Barba. Sonny and Benson talked with Mr. Briggs daughters to try to find any information they could have about where Charmaine would take him but they were not of much help.

We make it outside the courthouse and find Barba buying coffee's. He passes one to each of us and we start walking along with him "we have checked every hospital in Manhattan. There is no sign of Briggs." Benson says once we get to him.

"It's not kidnapping. She's his wife." Barba simply tries to explain to us. "She has the right to take him out of the hospital."

"Even against medical advice?" I ask, then going into further detail "ripping hospital equipment out of the wall?"

"Want me to file a larceny charge on the IV pump?" He sarcastically responds.

"His daughter's got a court order to visit him. Charmaine's in violation." Sonny tries another reason to get Charmaine.

Barba answers "has she denied them access?"

"They don't know where he is." Sonny answers.

"So no." Barba says like it's obvious.

"She's endangering her husband's life. The— the doctors made that clear." I call out, not happy with what he's saying.

Sonny adds on"yeah, plus the rape and assault charges are still under investigation."

"Barely" he scoffs back "one of them's a stretch, the other one's a chasm."

Sonny raises his voice again, clearly not happy either "this is a sick old man getting dragged across the city."

"Well, we're not social workers." Barba comments.

"But we are cops, and we can keep investigating." Benson clarifies.

"Knock yourselves out." He says back.

I respond back with a "we will."


	35. Chapter 35: Past Loves

Nick and Sonny make their way out to stop Mr. And Mrs. Brigg's from making their way to Canada while Amanda and I go back to the precinct to take care of some of the paperwork so far. Once we get there and start working, she stops and asks "So, Nick told me about you and Sonny. How's that gonna turn out?" She asks.

"Damn it, Nick." I lower my head from my work then look back up to her "Did you tell Benson?" I ask her, not wanting to deal with that since Sonny and I just started dating.

She gives me a know it all look "come on, what kind of person would I be if I told her about you two?" She asks with a sly smirk.

I nod, knowing for a while now about her and Nick. I give her a small thankful smile in return and say "not really sure how it's gonna turn out, but I'm hopeful it'll be good."

"You know, you guys made me lose a bet to Finn." She responds "he called it that you guys would hook up at work."

"Oh my god, I am not having this conversation." I shake my head and give her an eye roll before getting back to work.

I decide to make my way to Sonny's apartment and wait up for him. He texted me what time he'd be home so I get to his door a little before he gets there. "Hey you." He smiles when he see's me "didn't think i'd see you till tomorrow." He leans into me and gives me a kiss.

He goes to reach around me to unlock his door "well, I thought we'd have some fun with your varnished eel." I raise an eyebrow and start taking off my jacket once inside. I turn back to him once it's off an read the disappointment on his face "what?" I ask, wondering if that was too much.

"I'm just not in the mood tonight Madds. Sorry." He rubs his hand across my back and kisses me on the forehead before walking further into his apartment, taking his own jacket and gloves off.

"Oh. Okay, no I get it. Long day." I say, slowly putting my jacket back on "I'll just uhh, see you at work tomorrow."

I hear him plop down onto his couch as I turn away to make my way to the door "stay, please. Have a seat?" I can hear the question in his voice. I shrug, keeping my jacket on and taking a seat next to him. He pulls me closer to him and I nestle my head into his shoulder "I just can't believe what's happened to Walter. It's such a shame and there's nothing to do to stop it."

I begin to rub my hand above his shirt in a circular motion on his chest "you really admire him, don't you?" I ask, looking up to his sad eyes.

He nods once, staring ahead of him "I just can't imagine going through something like that. He knows what's going on too, and it's killing him." He explains.

"I can't imagine either. I'm sorry." I simply respond, not sure what to say back to him.

He shrugs a bit "thanks for coming over tonight. You want a glass of wine or anything?" He asks, his stare ahead coming back to me like he just shook off whatever it was he was thinking.

I shake my head "no, I'm good." I respond, not wanting to move from our cuddling couch session.

We stay in the spot for awhile, before either of us say anything. "Hey, wanna take your mind off things?" I ask him, sitting up a bit to look at him better.

"Sure." He says back, looking at me suspiciously.

I smile and sit up Indian style on the couch "why don't we try to guess what job our most recent ex had?"

He gives me a strange look "why would we do that?"

"Because talking about ex's always ends up being a thing and if we can get it out of the way now, with a sort of fun game, all the better." I try to explain, hoping it doesn't come off as weird and crazy as it sounds.

"Well, then I would guess your ex is an agent for the BAU." He gives me a know it all glare like he's so smart.

"Well, much to your surprise, he is not my most recent ex. So, you are wrong." I smile back sticking my tongue out at him. He purses his lips together in a sexy way and I say "my turn! Hmmm. I'm going to guess your most recent ex was a school teacher." I offer.

"Nope." He responds, popping the p. "My turn." He eyes me like he's trying to read my mind before slowly responding "was your ex a... military man?"

"Uhh, no. Was yours a nurse?" I guess, trying to think of jobs that have weird hours enough like ours.

He shakes his head and guesses another for me "a lawyer?" He asks. I nod my head and bite my lip, surprised he got it so fast. "A lawyer, interesting. And is it one I would know?" He questions next.

"Yea, sure, it was Barba." I roll my eyes and hit him in the chest. He laughs knowing it was a joke and I say "it's my turn to guess, was your ex an accountant?" I start to guess more random things.

He shakes his head "how long did you guys date?" He asks me, thinking it was a tit for tat question game.

"Hey, not yet! I have to figure out what your ex was first before getting in to all those questions!" I argue, not wanting to give him all the details without getting my own answers in return.

He chuckles "oh no, we are going question for question on this. It's not my fault you suck at guessing!"

I roll my eyes back "you are so annoying sometimes Carisi!" I use his last name to try and get under his skin. "Come on, give me a hint at least!" I pout a little.

"Answer my question first, then I'll give you a hint." He responds back.

"ughh, fine!" I throw one of his small pillows into his lap "we dated for 3 months. Now, give me a hint."

"Don't think too hard, her profession is similar to ours." He says.

I can tell he basically gave me the answer and I shout back "officer!" And he nods with a smirk. "Ahh, I should have guessed you'd have a thing for women on the job." I gesture to myself.

"Alright, why did you two break up?" He asks next.

I sigh, thinking back to the night he broke up with me "I think he thought I was too young, or just not experienced enough. I never really got a clear answer." I say, remembering the hurt it caused. He doesn't say anything, letting me come back to reality on my own terms. When I do, I change my solemn look to a smile and ask "same for you, why did you break up?"

"Because she cheated on me" He says, biting the inside of his lip enough for me to notice.

I nod my head "I'm sorry to hear that." I respond, not ever knowing the feeling of that happening.

He asks "Did you love him?"

I shake my head slowly "no, I didn't." knowing I've only ever loved once before. I ask my question next "who did she cheat on you with?"

"My best man." He responds, biting the inside of his cheek visible enough for me to see again.

This throws me way off guard and all I can say back it "wh-what?"

He nods, probably figuring something like this would throw me off "you wanted to know." He simply puts it.

I nod and say back "you, you were married?" My heart rate is already picking up, a bit freaked out by not knowing this.

"I'm not going to lie about it Maddison. It was a long time ago and it doesn't matter anymore." He tries to explain.

I stand up, glad I left my jacket on "You were married before, how does that not matter?" I start to walk to the door.

"Maddison, come back." He tries to tell me, standing at the couch but not moving towards me, his voice steady.

I shake my head and open the door "I'm sorry, I have to go right now. I'll see you tomorrow." I shut the door behind me and quickly walk from his door to the stairs, not willing to wait for the elevator in case Sonny comes after me. The cold air hits me hard and I stop at the entrance to his building. I know I'm acting childish over this, but Sonny was married before and I had no idea. I've known him for almost a year now and he never once mentioned it.


	36. Chapter 36: Body

When I walk into work the next day, Sonny and Nick are already there. As I enter, Sonny stands up and asks "Can I talk to you for a second Maddison?" He asks.

Luckily, Benson walks in behind me "hey, how'd it go last night?" She asks the two of them.

Nick answers his phone, leaving Sonny to respond. His eyes shift from me to her "heartbreaking. I mean, Briggs is aware just enough to know that he's lost it."

Nick hangs up his phone and comments "not anymore, he isn't. That was the hospital. He died earlier this morning up in Westchester. Another heart attack."

Sonny shakes his head "maybe it's for the best. You know, wife like that, the end game was gonna be pretty brutal."

"You know something about wives?" I spit harshly towards Sonny. Benson and Nick both give me a strange glare and I shrug it off, keeping my cold eyes on Sonny.

Benson breaks the silence "well, it already was. Look, we need Warner or any other New York City M.E. to perform the autopsy." She gives direction "make sure his wife's actions didn't contribute."

I respond to her "but the judge put off ruling on guardianship."

"Charmaine still has control of everything." Nick adds.

"Including the body." Sonny finishes "that's not good."

"All right, get up there." Benson directs us "I'll call Barba." She moves and the three of us leave the precinct.

The ride up to Westchester is silent and awkward, I sit in the backseat keeping my eyes averted from Sonny's general glare as we talk through the case. I know Sonny wants to talk to me, but I guess he's not willing to inform everyone on the squad about his marriage or divorce. Lucky for me because I don't want to talk about it. We arrive at the hospital just as they are wheeling Mr. Briggs' body out to a car with Mrs. Briggs close behind. We get out of the car quickly "Hey, hold up. Is that Mr. Briggs?" Sonny asks, stopping them from putting him in the van.

"Yes, I'm taking him to a beautiful place." Mrs. Briggs responds.

Nick holds up his phone, showing the paperwork to her "actually, you're not. It's a court order."

Sonny comments "No more hide and seek. Trip's off, boys. The world isn't done with Walter Briggs."

Charmaine looks at us in bewilderment as we wheel him away from her and to the ambulance we got to come with us stuttering "wh-what."

We drop him off at the morgue and make our way back to the precinct. Once the doctor is done with his preliminary autopsy, he calls Benson and she sends Carisi and I down there. I start the car and try to get there as soon as possible "you're really just going to ignore me Maddison, come on."

I keep my eyes on the road "Listen, I'm not ready to talk about this yet, alright? Just give me some time to sort this through." I try to stay calm.

"You don't even know what happened, if you let me explain-" He tries to say but I cut him off.

"Explain what? That you were married. I don't know why you felt the need to keep it a secret Dominick." I give him a death glare, urging him to keep pushing it.

He sighs heavily and throws his hands up "fine, let me know when you're ready to talk."

We get into the room with Mr. Briggs' body and the doctor starts reviewing his report with us "his arteries were clogged, his heart enlarged. Since when does SVU investigate death by heart attack?" He asks us.

"Well, his wife took him on a road trip after he had a smaller attack yesterday." I start to explain to him "we just want to know if it contributed."

"Well, it certainly didn't help." He answers back. "The gentleman was in no condition to go sightseeing."

"So you would draw a connection between that and his death?" I question for the answer we need.

"I mean, doc, she took him out of the hospital against medical advice with an IV hanging from his arm." Sonny elaborates the situation further for him.

"Well then, ipso facto." He comments. He thinks for a moment then adds on "by the way, it looks like she pulled something else out of him too."

"What?" We both ask, looking at each other with wonder.

"There's semen in his urethra." The doctor tells us.

"He had sex?" I question a bit shocked and confused how he'd do that in his state.

The doctors clarifies "a final ejaculation shortly before or after he died."

Sonny tries to make sense of it "his wife climbed into the hospital bed with him?"

The doctor disagree's "I don't believe he was in any shape to be that fortunate. If you care to observe, I could show you the intrarectal trauma." He walks back over to the body and holds the cover.

"No... no, thanks. I'm good." Sonny declines.

"Really?" I ask, knowing what he's referring to "rectal probe electroejaculation?"

Sonny looks at me then the doctor "wow. Guys, I'm— I'm lost here."

The doctor puts it easy for him "It's a technique for grieving wives to procreate with their loved ones, even posthumously."

Sonny looks at him then to me and we both have looks of shock on our faces. We leave the hospital and call Benson right away. She directs Carisi to drop me off at the precinct then meet her at Barba's office. Once we get to the precinct, I go to get out of the passengers side. Before I shut the door I lean back in and say to him "look, I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have made a comment like that in front of everyone."

"Thanks." He says back, with a smirk I just love to look at.

I sigh looking down, knowing I need to have a conversation with him "come over after work tonight? We can talk then?" I ask, hoping he's not the one mad at me.

"I'll see you then." His smirk turns to a smile and he waves as he drives off after I shut the door.


	37. Chapter 37: Unknown

"Trial is tomorrow, starts first thing in the morning." Sonny says once I open the door to my apartment for him to come in.

"Thanks for coming." I say, not needing to respond to his statement.

He nods, leaning in for the slightest kiss on the forehead and moves to sit down at my kitchen table. "So, you ready to listen to what I have to say?" He asks, nothing but patience in his voice.

I sit across from him and say "I am, but I want to apologize first. I acted like a kid when I stormed out last night and I shouldn't have, I'm sorry I was just shocked to hear that you were married, and if I'm being honest, jealous too."

"It's okay Maddison." He assures me. "Me and Melissa got married a year out of the academy. We were together for a few months after graduation and she told me she was pregnant. We decided we would get married, yanno, do the right thing. So 2 months later we went to the court house. Only, a week into our marriage I found out she cheated on me with my best friend, the best man at our wedding and he was actually the father of the baby." He pauses, waiting for me to say something but I can't help but stay frozen at his story, ashamed at how I reacted. "So, we got the marriage annulled and that was that."

"And you haven't dated anyone since?" I ask him. He sort of chuckles and I give him a nasty glare, wondering what is so funny about my question.

"I just told you I was married then annulled within a week and your question is if I dated anyone after that?" His smile grows wider and I keep my mouth closed waiting for his answer. He sighs to stop his laughing and says "no, I didn't actually date anyone after. I just didn't find the right one until you came along."

I try to stop the smile forming on my face, knowing his story is not one to smile about. When I can't, I let it show and say to him "I'm such an idiot."

He stands up to come over to me "you're not an idiot." He pulls me into a hug "maybe a bit over reactive, but not an idiot." We stay embraced for a bit longer until he pulls away from me "wanna go grab a bite to eat?"

"Sure." I say back and we leave my apartment to get dinner.

After dinner, Sonny drops me off at my front door and leaves. When I go upstairs, I notice the door to my apartment a jar and I pull my gun out of my waistband and push the door open, aiming inside in case the perpetrator is still there. "NYPD!" I shout into the apartment, hoping to startle someone inside. I slowly walk inside and begin to check every corner of the apartment, pointing the gun first every turn I make. After clearing the apartment, I lock the front door with both locks and begin to look around for anything that's missing. I search for a while before concluding that nothing is missing or out of place. I decide to just go to sleep and tell Sonny and Benson about it in the morning.

In the morning, I get to the courthouse early. Benson is already there and I sit next to her in the room "Goodmorning Maddison." She says with a grin "how are you?" She asks, making friendly talk before officially starting the job.

I answer back "I'm fine, I wanted to let you know that I think my place was broken into last night."

"What, are you okay? Was anything missing?" She asks.

I shake my head "no, the door was open but nothing was missing or taken."

"You should of called me last night." She says, not happy that I didn't.

"Nothing happened, I just thought I'd let you know." I respond.

"Let her know what?" Sonny and Amanda walk into the room with coffee's in their hands.

Olivia tells them "Maddison's apartment was broken into last night." She says.

"Are you okay?!" Amanda asks worriedly.

Sonny gives me a knowing glare and I know he's upset I didn't call him. "I'm fine. No one was there when I got home and nothing was taken. I might've just left it open when I went out for dinner." I shrug, wanting to ease everyone's tension.

"Maybe." Amanda agree's. She looks up to Sonny and hits him lightly on the chest "you okay?" She pulls him out of his trance.

"Yah, I'm okay." He nods, still stealing glances at me.

The court starts the hearing on Mrs. Briggs and we sit in the back watching. After hearing two different testimonies, there's a recess for lunch and Sonny tries his best to get me away from everyone else to talk. I manage to stay at lunch by talking to Nick and Amanda, knowing how the conversation between us would go. We all go back to the court together to stay for the second part of the trial. Halfway through his daughter, Delilah's, testimony the court is interrupted by a cellphone going off. It's soon obvious, that there could be new evidence in the case and the court is stalled for the remainder of the day. We all reconvene back at the office to watch the filmed tape of Mr. Briggs.

Barba joins us about an hour later after setting up tomorrow's day and asks "what do we have?"

Benson goes first "he spends the first ten minutes trashing his literary rivals."

"Well, God forbid a feud should end just because he died." Barba comments, always good for a sarcastic comment. "Where did this come from?" He asks.

"It's an lnternet service that sends messages to your loved ones post mortem." I explain the company.

"They recorded it three years ago. His obituary triggered its release." Rollins goes on "for an extra fee, they set it to music."

We watch on "now I want to talk to the people I love. My beautiful wife, Charmaine, who saved my life, and my daughters, whom I love despite the way they treated me."

"The way they treated him?" Barba questions.

"He certainly had a different view on it than we do." Nick adds.

Sonny disagree's "he had dementia. I mean, he was confused."

"He doesn't look confused here." Barba utters.

"Their mothers turned them against Charmaine. They were rude to her. Rude to my wife in my own home." Mr. Briggs continues from beyond the grave.

Benson tells Barba "I talked to his daughters. They knew nothing about this. Can the other side use this in court?"

"They'll find a way." He says back to her, knowing it'll be easy for them to get it admitted. "Send it to me, I'll watch the rest in my office." He directs and stands to leave.

The next day, Charmaine takes the stand. It's a good argue from both sides. After, the other side calls Judith, the blonde sister, to the stand. Barba meets up front with the judge and the rest of us look at one another wondering what's going on The judge calls for an hour recess and we all leave, wondering what's going on. There's no chance to ask Barba, as he quickly moves out of the courtroom to figure out what he needs to figure out. An hour later we are not back in the court room but instead back at the office, being told Barba made a plea deal with Charmaine and her lawyer and the trial is off. Some time goes by before Barba walks into the office and to Olivia's office. Sonny quickly follows them in, shutting the door behind him. When he walks out, his face is lowered and I know he's disappointed with the way things turned out.


	38. Chapter 38: Meeting

Later that night, while at home enjoying my take out dinner there is a knock on the door. I look through the peep hole and see Sonny, waiting to be let in. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask him as I open the door, smiling and moving aside to let him in.

"Don't think I've forgotten about this place gettin' broken into. Why didn't you call me? What if someone was here, huh? What if something happened to you?" He questions, his voice getting a bit higher with anger.

I inform him "I'm a detective Carisi, I can take care of myself, yanno." My hands rest on my hips as I wait for him to respond.

"Could it have been Doyle?" He asks, putting the deep thought from the back of my mind to the surface.

I shrug "I don't know why he'd do that, and not take anything or leave anything behind?"

He shrugs back "still, don't you think you should tell your dad. Let them know?" He asks.

"You know I'm not talking to him right now, besides I'd just worry him about nothing. I've checked all around Sonny, and everything is fine." I explain, not having enough reason to think it was Doyle who broke into the apartment "maybe I really didn't shut the door that night, I can't remember."

He gives me an annoyed glare like that's a stupid comment "fine, can you at least get your locks changed, get a better one?" He asks.

I nod, wanting to appease him "first thing in the morning." I assure him.

"How about we call now, I'm not leaving till they are changed." He assures me.

"I can think of things we can do till tomorrow to pass the time." I flirt, hoping to pass the time a more fun way.

He gives me a fake laugh "haha, not gonna happen doll. Don't think I forgot about you not telling me about this."

I give him a small pout but quickly give it up "fine, I'll find somewhere open 24 hours. Shouldn't be too hard in the city." I pick up my phone and start searching for a company. After calling 3 different places, I manage to get a hold of one who can come out within the hour. I tell Sonny who smiles happily and pours himself a glass of wine. "I'm gonna go shower, if you want to join me!" I call to him as I walk down the hall to my room. I wait for him to join me in my shower, but he never does. After I get out and change to my night clothes, I go back out into the living area and see Sonny sitting at the couch, my phone moved from the kitchen table to the living room one. "What's going on?" I ask eyeing it then him.

"That was the company, he should be here soon." He smiles at me and pats the seat next to him. "Sorry I didn't join you, but why don't we have a little fun to pass the time right here." He smirks.

We make-out on the couch until there's a knock on my door. We answer it together and my locks get changed and another gets added all under an hour. I pay them with cash and when they leave I decide to ask Sonny to stay the night "wanna stay over tonight, it's already pretty late."

He squints his eyes at me and coyly asks "you tryna seduce me?"

"Maybe." I bat my lashes back, happy he can catch on.

He raises his eyebrows at me "I'll make you a deal." I raise mine back waiting to hear what he's gonna offer "I'll stay the night, if you come to breakfast with me in Brooklyn tomorrow."

"That's all?" I ask, happy to oblige to that deal. He nods and I accept "you got yourself a deal!" I lean up, snaking my arms around him and finding his lips.

The next morning we make our way to Brooklyn and as we exit the subway I ask "so, what's so special about Brooklyn?"

"You'll see." He raises one eyebrow at me and grins.

"You know. There are plenty of places in the city to eat. Gonna suck getting called into work out here on a Sunday." I remind him.

"Well, let's hope we don't get called in then!" He returns.

A few minutes later we are outside an old building and I look around for a sign "this is where we're eating?" I ask him skeptically.

He ignores my comment and pushes a button on the wall. Quickly after a voice comes through the speaker and says "yes?"

"It's me!" He replies back and then the door is buzzed open and he holds it open for me "lets go!"

I give him a sideways glare and walk into the building. We make our way up a few floors and he knocks on an apartment door. "Hey Uncle!" The door opens and a person holding a giant teddy bear is standing in front of us.

"Hey you!" Sonny responds and then the bear is dropped from the face and a blonde women is standing in front of us.

She looks like Sonny so I ask "this is one of your sisters?"

"Bella, this is Maddison. Maddison, my baby sister Bella." He introduces us.

"It's such a pleasure to meet you, he's always talking about you!" She thrusts her hand out for me to shake.

I give him a strange look and shake her hand "it's probably all lies, I'm not as bad as he says I am."

She laughs a wide grin and moves aside "please, come in! Breakfast is almost ready!" We get in and she shuts the door behind us. She turns around to face us and lifts the bear back up "isn't this freaking adorable? It was on sale." She walks to a side room and Sonny follows, so I follow as well. "So, put the crib here, and changing table over there. What do you think?" She asks her brother.

His smile is so wide he answers "I can't believe my little sister's going to have a baby, that's what I think." He lightly tugs at the bears legs.

"Congratulations!" I add on, happy to see Sonny so happy.

They move back towards the living room "you still haven't told Mom yet?"

"Not exactly.'" She answers. Sonny lowly hums. "Tommy wants to wait till he and I are married. We're going to go to Montauk in April." She exclaims happily.

Just then, a man walks out from another room "hey, babe. How does this look?" He looks up and sees us standing there. "Sonny, what are you doing here?"

"It's great to see you too, Tommy. This is my partner, Maddison." He introduces us briefly.

"Nice to meet you. Congratulations." I say to him too from where we're standing across the room.

"He's going to help us move all the crap out of here. You know, put up some shelves." Bella goes over to her fiance and leans in for a hug.

He responds to her "we got, like, seven months. And I have to go see my parole officer, remember?" He asks.

Sonny then asks back "hey, how's that going?"

His sister answers "Great. Tommy just got a promotion at work. They gave him his own moving team."

Tommy moves away with an eye roll to grab his jacket "Yeah, I'm head schlepper now."

"Well, make sure you tell your P.O., all right?" Sonny calls after him "a raise, promotion, that's brownie points right there."

He goes back to Bella and leans in for a kiss "I want to get there early so I can leave early."

Bella tells Sonny "we got a doctor's appointment this afternoon. Our first sonogram." She smiles, patting lightly at her stomach.

"Our." Sonny smiles but also rolls his eyes.

Before Tommy leaves, he asks "did Bella tell you I popped the question? She's going to make an honest man out of me." He opens the door.

"That's great, Tommy." Sonny answers back, clearly not too thrilled about that news. "That's great." Tommy leaves and as soon as he's gone Sonny comments "Wow. Just a lot of changes." He half turns looking around her apartment.

"Shut up. He's really grown this time." She goes to teasingly hit him in the arm "I'm happy!"

He nods his head and pulls his sister into his hug "listen, I am happy for you too. This is going to be great." He assures her. After, he comes back over to me and says "and so you know, Maddison is more than just a work partner, okay?"

This time I hit Sonny on the arm, a bit more harshly then she did "ow!" He smiles and laughs, wrapping an arm around me. "What was that for?"

"Don't ruin her big news with our news." I scowl at him.

Bella laughs "that news is probably bigger then my news. Sonny never brings girls over!" She tells me.

"Stop." Sonny rolls his eyes "let's eat so I can help you with that room." He lowers his arm off of me and makes his way towards her kitchen.


	39. Chapter 39: Family Problems

The next morning in the office, Sonny walks in all smiles with a box in his hand. "Cannoli?" He asks coming to me first.

"Eww, no." I respond back, hating things with cream in the middle.

He turns to Amanda "Cannoli?"

She answers back sarcastically "What, are you trying to make me fat?"

He chuckles "Come on, it's still winter."

She puts her finger up "Just to be polite" and she pulls one out of the box.

"Hey, want one?" He asks Nick as he walks by.

Nick looks down and tries to decline "I'm good, thanks."

Amanda pipes in "don't make me eat alone."

He looks at her for a moment and says "i'll take one for later."

"Yeah, there you go." Sonny nods, clearly in a great mood.

Just then, his sister rushes into the room "Sonny, where you been? I've been texting you all morning. Jeez."

She looks disheveled and I stand up from my desk and stand next to her.

"Sorry. I had class last night." He tells her, leaving out the part of him coming over from there. "I must have left my phone on airplane mode." He turns his attention to Amanda and Nick, wrapping his arm around his sister "Hey, guys, this is my sister, Bella."

"Hi." They both say back.

"Oh, hey." She says, clearly not all there.

Sonny then catches on "hey, are you okay? What's— what's going on?" He asks, trying to meet her eye level.

She shakes her head and starts rambling "Tommy didn't come home last night. I'm totally freaking out."

He asks her"when's the last time you talked to him?"

"Right after my sonogram. He was still waiting for his parole officer, and then now his phone is going straight to voice-mail." Her voice is in a panic and her breath is labored.

"Calm down." He tries to tell her. "Did you call his parole officer?"

"Are you crazy?" She responds back.

He nods and begins to take her to the interview room "come here. Just take a seat in here. We'll get you some water. Don't worry, we'll find him, okay?" He tells her and she goes into the room, dropping her self into a chair and putting her head into her hands.

I grab the water for Sonny and he mumbles to me "thanks. Start looking in last nights arrest, I bet he got picked up."

I nod my head to him and return to my computer. It doesn't take long to find him being held at a precinct near his parole office. Sonny and I take the car and make our way to get him out. "ook, I didn't want to bother you, Sonny. Thanks for coming." Tommy trails behind Sonny as we leave the precinct, getting him out of the cell he was in holding for.

Sonny answers him, clearly upset "my sister's going out of her mind worrying about you."

"I'm sorry." He says again.

I can tell how annoyed he is "now she's going to find out you got into some drunken bar fight?"

Tommy pleads "you can't tell Bella. You got to promise me. You got to swear."

Sonny turns, now near the car "you drank, you got busted. I'm not covering for you." He rattles off to him. "Also, you're in the system, which means your parole officer's already been notified."

Tommy shakes his head "Yeah, I'm not worried about that."

"Well, you should be, because when he finds out, he's going to stick it to you." Sonny reminds him.

"She." Tommy clarifies. "And she already has. So no way is she going to bust me now."

"She?" I ask him, worried about what he said just then.

Sonny also catches on "hold on, hold on, what are we talking about here?"

Tommy answers, his voice a bit low "she made me. I swear, Sonny. She made me do her."

Sonny looses it, picking Tommy up by his jacket and collar and throwing him against the car "You cheated on my pregnant sister?" He snarls at him, getting close to his face.

I try to put myself between them, but Sonny is raged enough to have a good enough grip "hey, Sonny, back off!"

"Whoa, whoa! I didn't want to!" He yells back, his eyes filled with fear "she made me. She... She pulled her gun out on me. Please don't tell Bella. Please." He pleads further.

Sonny keeps Tommy against the car, his face still covered with rage. "Sonny, come on. We gotta go in." I grab a hold of his arm, trying to get his focus back to reality.

He breathes out his nose heavily and pushes himself away from Tommy, still giving him a death glare. "Get in." He directs to Tommy who nods and opens the back seat.

I get into the driver's side to take Tommy back home and us back to the precinct, knowing we're going to have to sort this whole thing out.

Sonny talks to Benson alone and I do my best to stay busy, waiting to here what she thinks we should do about it. Eventually, her and Sonny make their way over to me "Grey, I want you with me when I go talk to Tommy. You were there for his initial disclosure."

"Sure, let's go." I respond, standing up and grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair.

I give Sonny an assuring nod and he mouths the words 'thank you' to me. I clue in Olivia on the ride over to Tommy's work on what exactly happened between the two of them earlier. "Tommy Sullivan, police." Benson calls us out as we get closer to him.

He and another man are moving an object from a building into a moving van "I'm in the middle of a job here. If this is about the bar thing?" He asks through a grunt.

"It isn't. Sergeant Benson. You remember Detective Grey. Manhattan SVU." She formally introduces our titles.

"SVU?" He asks with a bit of wide eyes "did Sonny send you? Look, listen, like he said, I made a dumb mistake and I'm willing to take the rap for it."

"Sonny told us there may have been a reason you didn't go home to your fiancée and stayed out drinking instead." I ask, wanting him to accept what happened and move forward with charging this P.O.

He responds "I don't want to make a big deal out of this, okay?"

He tries to walk around us "so you're just going to pretend that nothing happened? Go back to your parole officer next week and hope that she doesn't pull a gun on you?"

"Uh, yeah." He answers, speaking lowly "I only got three months probation left. I'll suck it up."

"Well, what about your fiancée? What does she make of all this?" I ask him, hoping he told her.

He shakes his head "she doesn't know and she's never going to know. Right now, she thinks that I screwed up like I always do and went out drinking." He looks back to the men he's working with and then back to us "listen, I got to get back to work. This is my first time supervising."

Olivia tries to stop him "listen to me. What happened to you-"

He doesn't let her finish "Is no big deal, okay? I didn't fight her off. I didn't get hurt."

"It wasn't right. And it wasn't your fault. And it's not going to just go away if you pretend it didn't happen." She tries to assure him of that.

He responds back "you think anybody's going to believe an ex-con about something like this?"

I decide to try to close out the conversation, knowing he's not going to come in right now anyway "all right, you don't have to make up your mind now, but for Bella's sake, you should go to the hospital when you get off work."

"The hospital?" He questions.

"Yeah. If your P.O. had sexual contact with you, there could be evidence. She could have exposed you to STDs." Olivia elaborates to him.

"You have a pregnant fiancée. You owe it to her to get tested." I remind him, knowing even from the brief time of meeting him, he wouldn't want to put her or the baby at risk.

"Oh, God. I didn't even think about that." He answers, now worried about it.

I ask again "so, what about your clothes you were wearing last night? Can you get those to us?"

"Really?" He pushes.

"Yeah. Look, you violated your parole." Olivia goes on "You don't know what she's going to do or say about you."

Just then, one of his work pals calls over "Tommy, a little help here."

"Yeah, okay, just give me a sec!" He calls back to him then directs his attention back to us "I really can't do this right now."

"Okay, listen to me." Olivia pulls out her card "why don't you come in tomorrow. Bring in the clothes that you were wearing. One step at a time. We'll take your statement." He reluctantly takes the card and nods, leaving us and heading back to work.

I turn to Olivia as we begin to walk away "I really hope he comes in. Sonny's a mess." I comment to her.

She eyes me for a moment, clearly thinking of something but decides to not say it "we'll just have to wait and see."


	40. Chapter 40: Power over People

I take Sonny out to dinner that night, figuring he probably wants to talk about what happened. "I just can't believe what he's saying." Sonny starts off after we order a bottle of wine.

"Because he's a guy or because of his past?" I ask him.

He shrugs, mulling it over for a moment "both I guess."

"You know guys can be raped too Sonny, just like girls can't help it, guys can't help it either." He gives me a strange glare and I remind him by saying "morning wood?"

He snorts a little "I guess, it's just. Why now? Yanno. Bella is going to be having a baby and she shouldn't have to deal with this."

I nod but remind him "but Tommy's also dealing with this Son, he's the one who's a victim."

He exhales at my words and our wine arrives. We talk about other things after that, wanting to keep his mind occupied knowing we'll have more information tomorrow once Tommy comes in for his interview. Sonny walks me home but declines coming in, we kiss each other goodnight and I go upstairs to get ready for bed.

The next day, I arrive to work just as Amanda and Nick finish their interview with Tommy. Tommy leaves the precinct, giving me a small smirk goodbye and I spot the two of them with Benson huddled together by Amanda's desk "how was the interview?" I ask them, throwing my jacket on top of my desk.

Amanda responds "I don't know. No witnesses."

"He's still not sure he wants to even pursue this." Nick adds on.

"Something I should know about?" Sonny then walks in, asking us with a worried look.

Olivia answers him "Uh, Tommy came in this morning. Rollins and Amaro took the statement."

Sonny shakes his head "I hate to drag you guys into this. He's not even family. But was he credible?" He asks after apologizing.

"Well, he's, uh... reluctant. But consistent." Nick informs.

"He brought in the clothes he wore for testing." Amanda adds on.

Sonny wants to clarify "so he wants to go through with this?"

Amanda speaks up "honestly, I don't know what he wants to do. He's all over the place."

Olivia steps up from where shes sitting "well, what he went through-"

Amanda adds on "if it's true."

Olivia eyes her cautiously "it's a lot to process. We all know how difficult it is for women to admit that they've been assaulted. But men-"

"I know." Amanda admits back "It just looks bad that he didn't disclose until after he violated his parole."

"So we do our due diligence." I say back to her "let's see if CSU turns up anything on the clothes."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tommy still hasn't even told my sister yet." Sonny holds us up "you got to slow this down."

Olivia steps a bit closer to him "Carisi, you can't be part of this investigation." His face drops, probably knowing this was coming. "But what you can do is walk Tommy and your sister through where it can go."

He exhales and agrees "copy that, Sergeant. So I should go now, huh?"

"Yeah." She answers and he nods, walking out of the precinct.

Before he can leave and Olivia comments to the rest of us "okay, so where were we?" Sonny and I exchange a glare and I give him an assuring now, letting him know I will keep him in the loop as things moved forward.

Nick goes over what we know on the P.O. "we checked out Tommy's P.O. Donna Marshall. She graduated with a Masters in Social Work from SUNY Purchase, top of her class. She's been at the downtown office for over a decade."

Amanda elaborates to us "her boss, Ralph Kessel, just cited her on the DOC website as having the lowest recidivism rate in his department."

Olivia nods "Good. Invite him in." She looks at all of us "anything else?"

I decide to ask the obvious question "you think NYPD has a blue wall? You know how the Department of Corrections is going to frame this."

"Oh, I do." Olivia answers "but what if the genders were reversed? Are you saying that a respected male officer wouldn't abuse his power to coerce a woman into sex?" I nod, knowing and agreeing with her, just worried about how hard this is going to be. "Look, guys, we all saw the look on Tommy's face, his affect. We know that something happened to him. So we take this case as seriously as if it was a woman accusing a male P.O." She directs and leaves us to do our jobs.

Amanda and I watch from Olivia's office as her and Nick interview her superior later that day. "It's never good news with you guys." Mr. Kessel says standing in front a chair "hit me."

Olivia and Nick move to the chairs around him "yesterday, a parolee made rape allegations against one of your P.O.s." Nick starts off.

He looks to Nick then to Olivia "not unusual. The amount of stories these ex-cons come up with would put Stephen King to shame. But just to play along, which P.O.?"

"Donna Marshall." Benson responds.

"Donna? You do know she's a woman?" He asks.

"We do." Olivia responds knowingly in return.

He sort of chortles "okay, let me guess. The lesbian welfare mom. She's on her third P.O. in as many months."

Nick declines his reasoning "actually, it was a man."

"A man?" Mr. Kessel questions "seriously?" Nick and her just stare at him with serious glares and he starts to laugh "this gets better and better. Uh, how does that even work?"

"Well, she's a woman in power. And according to the disclosure, Officer Marshall pulled a gun on him, and he felt that he needed to comply." Olivia then takes her spot in her chair.

"Oh. Comply. He sounds like my wife." Mr. Kessel laughs at his own joke.

Nick plays along "mine too."

"I'm sorry, not everybody gets my sense of humor." The man apologizes before going on "but, come on. Donna, she's- she's barely a sexual being, let alone a sexual predator. She's all work."

"Well, you're right. This all may go away. But legally, we have to follow up, and you need to cooperate."

Mr. Kessel replies "of course. Just give me the name of the lying son of a bitch who's yanking your chain. If he's filing, it's public record."

Amanda and I glare at each other, knowing this isn't going to be as easy with him as it should be. Olivia answers "well, you know, it is early in the investigation. And it's clear that Officer Marshall has your confidence. So I think we've heard everything we need to right now."

She walks over to the door and opens it for Mr. Kessel to exit "well, okay. Well— let me know if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you so much for coming in." She smiles to him.

"All right. Thank you for having me." He responds back, leaving the room.

Amanda and I enter the room as she shuts that door and we all look at each other knowingly. Mr. Kessel is going to go back to Donna and things are going to get a lot worse for Tommy.


	41. Chapter 41: Selling Problems

Later that night my phone rings and Sonny's name pops up "Hey Babe, what's up?" I answer with a smile.

"Tommy just got arrested for drugs after a home inspection." He informs me, a bit of panic in his voice.

I sit up where I am lying in bed and ask "what? When?"

"Like an hour ago. I just left Bella's and she's freaking out. It wasn't even scheduled. Did you guys bring her in today?" He asks me.

"No, we did talk to her boss though, he must of said something to her. Do you think they were his? Could he be selling?" I ask him.

I can tell he's thinking by the silence on the other end "I don't know. Pot was always his thing, not oxy but what do I know." He responds distressed.

"Alright, calm down. I'll talk to Liv and we'll go from there, we'll get you in to see him first thing tomorrow." I inform him, trying to keep him calm.

"Yah, yah, sure." He responds back "thanks doll. I'll see you tomorrow." He says before hanging up the phone.

I decide to call Olivia and give her the news. After explaining what happened she says "this is not good. Now that he was arrested, it's going to look worse on his character. I'll make a few phone calls. I'll talk to you tomorrow Maddison. Thanks." She says and hangs up as well.

The next morning I wait for Nick and Sonny to get back from visiting Tommy in jail. Sonny got their first thing in the morning and Olivia thought it would be best for Nick to go along with him. Once back, they go over things with Olivia and I can see how stressed Sonny is about all this. Nick comes out of the office before Olivia does and he goes straight for his phone "what's up?" I ask him as he dials.

"Calling the lab." He informs. Amanda and I go over towards him, eager to get any results back. "Yeah, this is Nick Amaro, SVU, we are still waiting on the labs of a rape case, brought in 2 days ago." He says. Just then, Sonny comes back out of Olivia's office and says "Yeah, I'll hold." Nick says to the other person on the line.

"No good deed, huh?" Sonny asks sarcastically.

"So Tommy was a dealer?" Amanda asks him.

"Just pot, not oxy." Sonny clarifies. "He's put that all behind him. He's been working his program."

"Well, he was in a bar fight, though." She responds, truly not believing everything Tommy is saying.

"Yeah, after she assaulted him. He was decompensating." He argues back calmly.

"Maybe. But people do—" She goes to say.

"Amanda.." I look at her, trying to urge her to stop.

"they.. you know, they slip up. Sometimes you have to let them hit bottom." She says.

Sonny sits in the chair, hands up "yeah, I know. It's just- things were going really well for Tommy."

"Well, you know what? Some people can't handle that." She says back, getting a bit more agitated. "You know, they need— they need the drama."

Sonny starts to get more defensive now "hey, I was there, all right? His P.O. was in and out of that room in half a minute tops."

"Okay, well, you know what? Somebody's lying." She returns "then we— we have to figure out who." She shrugs and walks away.

"She's kind of big on tough love, isn't she?" Sonny asks Nick, whose still on hold.

Nick sits a bit closer to his seat "look, her sister played her so many times, she taught herself to expect the worst from family."

"Yeah, well, her family isn't my family." Sonny spits back.

"Tommy's not your family. Bella is." I return to him, reminding him. "Look out for her. We'll do our jobs, okay?"

"Yeah." He nods, sitting back in his chair with a deep sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still here." Nick returns into the phone. Only a few moments pass when he says "Thanks. Thank you." And hangs up.

I look to him with a bit of shock "no way the touch DNA came back that fast."

He shakes his head "no, but the results from Tommy's clothing did. It tested positive for Donna Marshall's saliva and, uh, fluids."

"So that proves they had sex." Sonny says, knowing it's going to be harder to prove rape.

Nick tells him firmly "So we can bring her in. Look, at the very least, she broke the law."

Sonny doesn't look to trusting, so I try to encourage him "Hey, it's good news." I squeeze his shoulder lightly. Nick gets up to go inform Olivia.

Sonny just shakes his head and says "yea, you try telling that to my sister."

I exhale quickly " I can come with you if you want, help you to tell her?" I offer to him.

He shakes his head again "No, work the case. I'll tell her." He grabs my hand under the desk and lowly says to me "really wish I could hug you right now." His mouth forms a toothless smirk.

"Me too." I say back, squeezing his hand in return, wanting him to know that I'm here for him for whatever he needs.

I spot Olivia and Nick coming out of her office and Sonny releases my hand, I swipe some hair behind my ear with that hand and look to her and she walks over to us "we're calling Mrs. Marshall in right now, I want you in on the interview with me Grey." She directs.

"You got it." I tell her and go across from Sonny to sit and prepare. Sonny stands up to leave and as he goes I holler over to him "good luck!"

"You too." He responds and he's out of the door.


	42. Chapter 42: Tampered

"Thank you for coming in Ms. Marshall." I say as her and her attorney enter the interview room.

She clarifies "officer Marshall."

"Of course, I'm sorry. Thank you for coming in officer Marshall, why don't you have a seat." I suggest and all 4 of us sit down.

I open my notebook and Olivia asks the first question "It has come to our attention that you've recently had relations with one of your parolee's, is that correct?"

"Yes, I had sex with Tommy Sullivan earlier this week at his desire" She says back with a small grin.

"So you admit that you and Tommy Sullivan had a sexual encounter?" I clarify more this time.

She responds "again, initiated by Mr. Sullivan. I'm human. I had a moment of weakness. It was a mistake." She sort of shrugs, as if that would make it all go away.

"Not to mention illegal." Olivia reminds her.

Her attorney pipes in "there's no need to be didactic. Officer Marshall is here to cooperate."

"Okay, so what exactly happened in your office?" I ask her for details.

"Once we'd finished with our meeting, I walked Tommy to the door. And he said that he could tell that I had had a long day. And I looked at him and I nodded. And he asked if I wanted a massage." Olivia and I share a glance but continue listening. "And then he started working my shoulders. And then he started kissing me. And I told him it was not a good idea, but he was aggressive."

"Okay, well, did you say no or try to tell him to stop?" I ask, hoping she isn't going to say yes and call rape from him.

Her tone lowers when she responds "when I say no, people listen. He didn't rape me, Detective. And I certainly didn't rape him. He came on strong, and it didn't feel terrible. And I let myself enjoy the feeling."

"And by "it," you mean-" Olivia asks for specific.

"Oral sex and intercourse." She says it without hesitation. "I'm going on the fifth anniversary of my divorce, and it felt good to be wanted."

"And Tommy Sullivan made you feel wanted?" I question.

"In that moment, very much so, yes." She answers, having her story all sorted out.

"All right, I think we've humiliated Officer Marshall enough." Her lawyer tries to stop the interview. "She's facing interdepartmental discipline, but we are done here."

"Oh, well, we're just trying to get your client's side of the story." Olivia smiles at him.

"It's okay, counselor." Donna Marshall denies her lawyers request to end our interview.

"Okay, so you said that Tommy initiated the contact, made you feel wanted. Were you aware that he put in three requests this year to change parole officers?" Olivia asks her, wanting things to go deeper.

"Mm, that doesn't surprise me." She responds. "I'm the toughest one in my office." She puts a finger on the table like it's something we should've known already.

"Really? So, what would give him the impression that he could be intimate with you after you said that it was a bad idea?" Olivia asks her.

I sit back in my chair, waiting for her respond "parolees are manipulative. You know, they think they have the upper hand. That's the nature of the job."

"Wasn't the job to not allow them to have the upper hand?" I jump in and ask. She gives me a touche kind of smirk and I sit up to question "let me ask you, uh, was there— was there a gun in your office during this encounter?"

"I carry, yes." She answers.

"Where was the gun?" Olivia asks her, getting to the point.

Officer Marshall catches on here "what, is he alleging that I assaulted him at gunpoint?" She begins to laugh "he was ready, willing, and able. I mean, do you think a man could respond like that under duress?"

"Actually, we do. Yes." Olivia answers firmly.

Her attorney ends it there and the two of them stand up "all right, we came here as a courtesy. But I've heard enough. Donna, let's go."

Donna begins to head to the door, Olivia meeting her there "Tommy Sullivan is a criminal and a con artist and a recidivist. He came on to me, and now he's claiming that I'm a rapist because his pregnant girlfriend found out that he cheated on her." She hits Benson on the arm a little too roughly "there's nothing to see here."

She walks out and her lawyer stops at the door to say "you believe that scumbag's story over a fellow officer, then you should be ashamed of yourself." And with that, the two of them leave.

Olivia and I follow them out the door and I say to my boss "she's a piece of work."

Olivia answers "and a liar. Right to our faces."

"Still, a P.O.'s word against Tommy's. I mean, her lawyer's right. He's looking at five years for those pills." I mention out loud, still worried about the turn out.

Nick comes up from behind us "maybe not. Lab report's back on Tommy's oxy. It's like he said, there's no trace of him." He puts the report in front of us for us to see. "They did find touch DNA, though. Belongs to Jordan Dolphy, a paroled drug dealer." He then pauses and looks at us "Guess who his P.O. is?" I look to Olivia and Nick with a sly grin, knowing we're going to go be knocking on someone's door.

Benson works on the search warrant and Nick and I prepare to move. We get to Jordan's apartment in the early afternoon and the officers walk up with us. Nick bangs on the door. Once open, we walk inside, moving him to get in "Jordan Dolphy, back up." Nick calls to him.

"Hey, what's going on?" He questions, a bit dazed looking.

"We got a warrant to search your apartment." I inform him, handing him the papers.

"Hey, man, you can't do this!" He argues at us as we begin our search. "Hey, hey, baby, call my parole officer." He calls to someone else in the apartment.

I call to him "yeah, Donna Marshall? You think she's going to help you now?"

"Check that coat." Nick directs me.

"There anything sharp in here?" I ask him.

"Uh-uh." He hesitates answering me.

I search the pocket and sure enough, I find what I thought I would "well, we got oxy."

He holds his hands up in a panic "hey, hey, listen, let me just call Donna."

"Oh, yeah. She'll explain it?" I ask.

Nick gets closer to him "so she's been your P.O. for, what, three years? And in all that time, you passed all your drug tests?"

"You think I'm stupid? This is a trap." He respond back.

"I think you're in trouble, Jordan." I tell him. "We found your DNA on some oxy that Donna had."

He looks at us with wide, worried eyes "wait, she said it was mine? Donna made me give her that oxy."

"In exchange for what?" Nick pushes "clean drug test?"

He looks over his shoulder at the women holding a baby "hey, baby, hold that call." He tells her, The women nods, lowering the phone and walking away. "She adds just the right amount of vinegar to my urine." He tells us, stepping closer so the officers in the room don't hear.

"Oh, man. It's the Donna Special. Right. So she lets you off the hook, you do whatever she says." Nick goes over her play. "So, what else do you get her besides oxy?"

He hesitates in answering, but does so "other services."

"What do you mean other services?" I ask him, hoping it's what we need to take Donna down.

Jordan starts looking behind him, worried about the women in the apartment. Nick calls him back "Hey! Yo, Jordan."

He whispers to us "she's a divorced, lonely lady. Use your imagination." He continues "whenever she says it's time for my piss test, that means it's time to unzip. Drain my sack dry every time."

"So does she make you have sex?" I ask "have you ever said no?"

He answers "Yeah, yeah, I tried, once. She pulled a gun out on me." I eye Nick and he eyes me as Jordan continues "But- it's like free sex, I guess. I should feel lucky, right?" His eyes jolt between us, now wondering if what he just asked was really true.

"Go over there, hold on." I direct Jordan and he nods as an officer comes over to stand with him. "It's the same M.O. We got her." I say to Nick.

He shrugs "we can try, give Liv a call and I'll finish up in here." He tells me and I nod, moving to leave and fill our boss in.


	43. Chapter 43: Feelings

**WARNING-MILD SMUT AHEAD**

Nick and I call Olivia and her and Sonny make their way to Barba's office. After, he calls me on his way home "I'm sorry, I can't come over tonight. I have to go talk to Tommy." He starts off as soon as I pick up.

"Hey, hey. No need to apologize. You do what you have to do, alright?" I return, wishing there was more I can do for him. I offer "do you need anything, want me to come with you?"

"No, I gotta do this. Thank you though. You around tomorrow?" He asks me.

"Liv asked me to go in, Finn's still out of town." I return, knowing we need all hands on deck with this case.

"I'm sorry." He hums out "I told her I didn't need the whole day off" he tries to explain.

"It's fine, I could use the O.T anyway. Go get some rest Sonny, alright. Everything's gonna work out." I try to assure him.

"Ya, alright. Night Madds." He says, sounding exhausted.

"Night Sons." I return and we hang up the phone.

Sunday goes by slowly, filled with paperwork and preparing for the hearing. Barba wants things to move swiftly, getting the hearing scheduled for tomorrow. I drop by Sonny's house after work and his long face smiles when he opens his door "what are you doing here?" He asks, opening his door for me to come in.

"Just stopping by on my way home." I tell him with a grin.

He smirks back "I live out of the way from your place and work."

"Guilty." I shrug one shoulder looking up with my eyes. He leans down to kiss me and it's more passionate then it has been recently. "Everything okay?" I ask him in a whisper when we pull away.

He sort of shakes his head but says "I'm just happy you're here."

"So, you're all set for tomorrow?" I ask, knowing he'll be called to the stand. Barba told me I could be called up as a witness, but don't think Donna's attorney cares much about what I have to say, not being related to the case like Sonny is.

He walks back over to his couch, plopping down and sipping from a beer that's next to him "yeah, just hope Tommy is."

"He will be, you know what you're doing and so does Barba. We'll get her." I try to assure him, knowing how hard this is going to be to convince a jury a women raped a man.

"I just, this is already exhausting." He wipes his hand with his face, the bags under his eyes are dark, like he hasn't slept well in a while.

"It'll be over soon, hang in there." I pat his leg, leaning into him and resting my head on his chest.

He sighs and returns "it's not me I'm worried about. Bella's really worrying me. Liv talked to her this morning but she's still not sure what she wants to do."

I nod my head a bit, knowing what he is referring too "I'm sorry" is all I can think to say, knowing there are no words I could say that could make him feel better.

Sonny and I end up in his bed a short while later. He keeps his tongue in his mouth and holds his kisses with mine. He slowly takes my clothes off, running his hands over my body, leaving chills where his fingers laid. He keeps himself on top of me, letting his lips slowly suck on my neck and I hum with the pleasure of the tingle. "I don't.." He hums out when I move my hands to his belt "I don't have any condoms." He looks to me with sorrowful eyes.

I huff out a bit frustrated and do some math in my head. "It's fine, I'm not ovulating." I tell him, pulling his lips back to mine.

He accepts my kisses for a few seconds but asks "are you sure?"

"Positive." I respond, figuring I had another 2-3 days before I start to ovulate. He nods and we continue forward. There's no foreplay this time with us, as soon as he's undressed he returns to his position on top of me and moves to get inside. As he pushes himself inside of me, he mumbles my name a few times, and I reciprocate his feelings, enjoying every bit of him. As his thrusts stay consistent with pace, I feel myself get closer to my release. I lift one leg up, wrapping it around his waist and begin to work with him as well, wanting to ride out our orgasms together. "Come on Sonny, cum with me." I whisper in his ear in between my panting, truly feeling connected to him.

"Mmmm." He hums back to me, starting to thrust a bit harder this time. It doesn't take much longer before we both release, and he fills me inside. When he rolls off of me, I make my way to his bathroom to clean up. When I come out, the sheets to his bed are already off and he's already in his pants.

"What, no cuddle?" I tease as I re enter the room.

He gives me a little smirk and returns "we can go cuddle on the couch, let me just start a wash."

I shake my head, going back over to redress myself. "I should get going though, you're going to have a long day tomorrow." I respond.

"You sure?" He asks "you can stay here tonight." He offers.

I shake my head "you should get a full night's rest. I'll see you in the morning." I confirm. Sonny walks me out the door and kisses me goodnight "night Sonny." I tell him before I walk away.

"Night doll." He returns and shuts the door as I walk into the elevator.


	44. Chapter 44: Sonny's Testimony

When I step out of the elevator to my apartment I spot my father standing at my door "Dad! What are you doing here?" I ask going over to him, my mouth hanging a jar with shock.

"What? A father can't stop in to see his daughter?" He asks with a stupid smile.

I give him a know it all glare, knowing how much he hates that I'm here in the city and lean in for a hug. "Come in." I say after, moving beside him to unlock my door and move this into the apartment.

Once he's inside, I lock the door behind me and place my badge and gun down on the front table "it's good to see you dad, but really, what are you doing here?"

He sighs but answers "Spencer called me."

"Spencer?" I repeat his name, unsure why he would call my dad. I haven't talked to him since I called him a month or so back.

My dad nods "told me about someone breaking into your place. Maddy, you should've called me." My dad goes to step a bit closer, face full of concern.

My brain races as he says this, finally coming back to the other night when Sonny used my phone and said it was the locksmith "damn it, Sonny." I mumble under my breath with a shake of my head. I turn my attention back to my father "it's nothing to worry about dad, there's nothing here." I open my arms wide as if to tell him to look around.

"You're going to take that risk?" He pushes me.

I shake my head again "breaking and entering is not really Doyle's thing dad. I know his sheet in and out, he'd leave a calling card if he wanted us to know it was him."

"What if he didn't want us to know?" He pushes back. "What if he's playing another game?"

"He would want me to know it was a game, dad. I'm serious, if I was worried or thought for a second it was him I would have let you and the BAU know." I try to assure him, keeping my own seeded thoughts of who broke in down and invisible from him or anyone else.

"I don't think you should mark this down as a coincidence." He tries to discourage my reasoning.

I roll my eyes "it's not his M.O. Dad, it's nice of you to come up here but I'm fine. Everything is fine!" I assure him.

He looks around my apartment while exhaling deeply and shrugs "well, can I at least grab dinner with my daughter before heading home?"

"Sure, dad." I semi smile, glad he's good to go after having dinner together. I love my dad but things are just weird since the incident in D.C.

After dinner, my father heads back to the airport for the next flight home. I crawl into bed later then I wanted and fall asleep quickly, not really ready for the next day.

I sleep through my alarm and quickly rush to get to court on time, throwing my bed head into a bun. I get to the court room just as Sonny's questioning with Barba is about over. I slink into the back of the room.

"And is that when Mr. Sullivan told you he'd been assaulted?" He asks.

Sonny responds "it wasn't easy for him to talk about it. He was, um, embarrassed. But I'm proud of him for coming forward and telling the truth."

"Thank you, Detective Carisi." Barba says and returns to his seat.

The judge directs "your witness, Mr. D'Angelo."

D'Angelo clears his throat, stepping away from behind the desk "so you said Mr. Sullivan was embarrassed, possibly even anxious?"

"Yes." Sonny agrees.

He asks "could that be because he was lying to you?"

Barba calls "objection."

Judge confirms "sustained."

D'Angelo calls back "I'll rephrase." He paces a bit closer towards Sonny "Mr. Sullivan told you this story after he'd been arrested and you had picked him up from jail, right?

"Yes, but it wasn't a story." Sonny spits back quickly.

Her lawyers goes in further at Sonny "and you're not just his fiancee's brother, you're also an SVU detective?"

Sonny confirms "yeah, that's right."

"Which he was aware of." The lawyer goes to argue. Benson and I share a glance, knowing what the lawyers trying to get at. "So is it possible, Detective, that Tommy Sullivan was trying to get your sympathy after he'd been arrested, after he'd cheated on your sister, by telling you that he had been raped"

Sonny's voice raises a bit annoyed "no, actually. He wasn't even aware that a woman could rape a man."

Her lawyer feeds off that "Oh, that's right. In fact, he only used the word "rape" after he had talked to your supervisor Sergeant Benson and Detective Grey, correct?"

"He did disclose to them." Sonny goes to clear it up

D'Angelo doesn't give in "after you asked them to talk to him." Then he turns towards the jury "I mean, Mr. Sullivan didn't think he had been raped at all until SVU detectives told him that he had been raped."

"Objection." Barba quickly yells out.

The judge agrees and commands "Sustained. Jury will disregard."

But the damage was done. "Nothing further" her lawyer says, walking back to his seat with his a smug grin. The damage was already done.


	45. Chapter 45: Missing Witness

"We call Thomas Sullivan to the stand." Barba calls out to the court now that Sonny has exited.

By the time Tommy is brought to testify, Sonny has returned to the seats with the rest of us. He gives me a nod when he walks in but takes a seat next to his sister.

Barba encourages Tommy "why don't you tell us what happened?"

Tommy sits uncomfortably in the chair, leaning into the microphone to answer "officer Marshall said I had to give a urine test in front of her. So I unzipped my pants and did what she asked. Then she told me to lie on my back. And when I hesitated, she pointed her gun at me. And after that, I did whatever she said."

Barba pushes for him to continue "and what happened next, Mr. Sullivan?"

"She handcuffed one of my wrists to the leg of her desk. And then she rubbed me. Put her mouth on me." He stutters out, clearly uncomfortable saying this out loud.

Barba steps closer to him "I have to ask you to be very specific here. Where did she put her mouth?" He tells him to be specific.

He nods once, going to but clearly not wanting to "uh, she put her mouth on my penis. Um, I didn't want it to- you know, but my body responded. And then she got on top of me and she forced me to penetrate her." He uses some verbage he herd from the squad members.

"She raped you?" Barba asks, wanting the jury to hear it.

Tommy exhales "yes. She raped me."

"How did you react?" Barba questions.

Tommy says "well, I mean, I was completely powerless. I felt angry, terrified. I was worried about my fiancee. Worried that if I didn't go along with it, Officer Marshall could send me back to jail, or shoot me right there." He gets a little more fast past in his tone, truly seeming upset. "You got to understand, P.O.s have complete control."

Barba finishes his questioning "thank you. Nothing further" and returns to his chair. He gives Sonny a curt nod before being seated.

Mr. D'Angelo clears his throat while standing, divulging right in "so it's your contention that, while handcuffed with a gun to your head, all of this against your will, you were able to perform sexually?"

"Yes, but I did not want to." Tommy tries to make clear.

"Well, did you fight back? Did you scream?" He asks.

Tommy responds, shaking "no" instantly.

"No, of course not, because, as you claim, you had a gun to your head." He retorts, putting words in his mouth, as most defense lawyers do. "I mean, did she have the gun in her hand the whole time?" He asks.

"I don't think so. She might have put it down at one point." He says, seemingly honest.

"According to your own testimony, you had one free hand. I mean, you're a sizeable man. Why didn't you just grab the gun?" He pushes him further.

"Because if I had done anything, fought her, yelled at her, if someone had come in- who knows what she would have done. I only had three months probation left." He tells him, tells everyone.

D'Angelo mentions "until you got arrested for oxycodone."

Tommy argues "No, that wasn't mine. Officer Marshall planted it."

"Well, there are two possible scenarios here." D'Angelo starts "scenario one: a dedicated parole officer forces you to have sex with her at gunpoint in her office, and then the next day, she went to your apartment with three other parole officers and planted drugs." He starts to walk a bit closer to the jury "or scenario two: you go out drinking, you violate your parole, and you get arrested for fighting." I can see Sonny's head drop a bit and Tommy roll his eyes at the accusations this man is saying. "That same dedicated parole officer follows up with a search of your house and discovers drugs, at which point, you cry rape."

Barba calls out "objection. Are we on summations here?"

Before the judge can answer, Tommy chimes in "that oxy was not mine."

D'Angelo questions "really? So did it belong to your fiancee?"

Tommy answers "that's not what I meant."

"Not what you meant. Not what you wanted. Not your fault. You're just all tied up in knots, aren't you?" Her lawyer claims.

"Objection." Barba calls.

"Withdrawn." D'Angelo responds "nothing further."

Tommy is excused from the stand and the judge calls for a short recess. I step into the hall with Sonny and Bella. Bella calls out the circumstances "this isn't fair. They're making Tommy out to look like the bad guy."

"Welcome to my life." Sonny returns, quickly grabbing a hold of my hand to give it a tight squeeze.

I reciprocate the gesture and Barba comes barreling out of the court room "hey, have you seen him?"

"Who?" I question, the three of us wondering who the hell he's talking about.

"Jordan Dolphy." He quickly returns "he was supposed to be in the witness room. He's testifying next." Barba quickly spots an officer and asks "have you seen my witness?"

"The squirrelly little guy?" The officer asks.

"Yeah. Where'd he go?" Sonny pushes.

The officer replies "he was jonesing for a smoke. I told him he had to take it outside."

"Did you?" Barba inquires, not waiting for a response. "Come with us." He gestures to the man and begins moving towards the main doors.

Barba, Sonny, and I quickly rush outside. The officer straggles behind us and it's clear to us that Jordan isn't anywhere around. "Oh, damn." Barba mutters.

"What?" The officer asks, uninterested.

"I had a bad feeling while prepping him last night." Barba comments.

"What, you just let this guy go?" I interrogate the officer, pissed this is happening.

The officer doesn't care, basically rolling his eyes at me "he wasn't under arrest, Detective."

"He was a material witness." Sonny lays it out for him.

"Well, now he's immaterial. What do you want from me?" He asks back.

"Find him!" Sonny almost yells back.

The man actually rolls his eyes this time "oh, okay. I'll get right on that." He eyes each one of us before stating "if he comes back into this building, I'll let you know."

A/N: OKAY! I have a few more chapters before the book ends BUT it is going to have a sequel! I've actually already written the first 6 chapters today because I'm so excited for it! I know it took awhile for Sonny and Maddison to build but that's because I like my stories to be as realistic as possible! Thank you so much for sticking with me through the first 20 or so chapters before the "good stuff" happened. I hope it was as fulfilling for you to read as it was for me to write! Anyway, I'm looking forward to where this story is headed and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Also; thanks for the likes/comments! The more I get the more motivated I am to write and then I get to post more chapters at a time! You're all the best ? ﾟﾘﾘ


	46. Chapter 46: Misplaced Anger

Amanda, Nick, Olivia, Sonny and I spend the entire night trying to find Jordan. By the time Barba meets with the judge, there is no sign of him. Barba comes out of the courtroom seething with rage as Jordan is now the main witness for D'Angelo and Donna Marshall. "They can't do this!?" Sonny argues, pacing the room "what do I tell Tommy, what do I tell Bella?!" He yells, starting to make his lower lip bleed from biting it.

"Sonny, calm down!" I go over to him, trying to remain professional with Olivia around "Barba will get him in cross." I try to tell him, refraining from reaching out and grabbing a hold of him.

"Is this really aloud?" Sonny questions Barba.

He shrugs "he's not our witness anymore."

Once Jordan is called to the stand, Mr. D'Angelo doesn't waste anytime asking about what happened when Nick and I raided his place. Jordan answers "two SVU detectives burst into my home. They found oxy, and they also said that they had my DNA on oxy confiscated from Tommy Sullivan's home."

"And did they arrest you?" D'Angelo asks.

Jordan answers, lying "No. They made it clear that a deal could be made if I would agree to testify against my parole officer."

"Donna Marshall, the defendant?" The lawyer points to his client.

"Uh-huh. That's right. They had some trumped-up case against her that they wanted me to corroborate." Jordan replies off the script he was told.

I sit next to Olivia in the back. Her and I eye each other and I give her a curt nod, affirming that Nick and I did the right thing. She gives me a nod back. "And you're risking a drug charge to testify here today. Could you tell the jury why?" The lawyer asks for answers.

"Officer Marshall's been nothing but good to me. I couldn't let her go down for something that I did." He claims "I'm the one that sold Tommy Sullivan the oxy. She had nothing to do with it."

D'Angelo smiles as he turns to return to his seat "thank you, Mr. Dolphy. Your witness."

It takes Barba a minute to stand, but when he does asks an obvious questions "Mr. Dolphy, you've been Officer Marshall's parolee for three years now?"

"That's right" is his response.

Barba delivers back "and in all that time, you've never failed a drug test?"

"No, sir." Jordan keeps it short.

Barba pushes "why is that?"

"Because I'm clean." He claims right back.

"I see." Barba starts to walk towards the witness "you testified that detectives found oxycodone in your apartment."

"For sale." Jordan defers "I don't use."

"You don't use oxy. But you do shoot heroin, correct?" Barba quickly returns to him.

"Objection. Relevance?" D'Angelo asks, wanting to stop Barba.

Barba explains to the judge "goes to motive, Your Honor. The witness has denied using drugs. I'm entitled to cross."

"Witness will answer." Judge clears. "And remember you're under oath, Mr. Dolphy."

"Do you use heroin?" Barba asks.

"No." Jordan says.

"May I ask you to roll up your sleeves, Mr. Dolphy, for the jury?" Barba inquires.

"Objection." D'Angelo calls out again.

Jordan adds on "he can't make me do this."

"Actually, he can." The judge returns "witness will comply."

Jordan reluctently rolls up his sleeves, showing everyone the clear injection marks from his addiction "are those fresh needle marks, Mr. Dolphy?" Barba asks, trying to his his smirk.

"Yeah, okay?" Jordan spits back "yeah."

"So the question remains, how did you manage to pass three years worth of urine tests?" Barba asks.

D'Angelo calls out "I'd like to request a recess, Your Honor."

"Now?" Barba turns to look at him for a moment, his small smirk now on his face. He turns back to the judge "he's my witness."

"Agreed. Continue, Mr. Barba." The judge returns.

"Did you or did you not tell SVU detectives that Officer Marshall doctored your urine tests with vinegar?" Barba asks him, stepping closer to the jury now.

"I..I don't recall." Jordan stutters back.

Barba goes on, knowing Jordan won't give straight forward answers "and did you or did you not tell SVU detectives that you were coerced into sex with the defendant in exchange for clean drug tests?"

"Objection!" Donna's desperate lawyer yells.

"Overruled." The judge says before he can even explain why he objected.

Jordan shouts out, looking to or around Donna Marshall "you said you were going to fix this! That the drug charge would just go away!"

"Are you referring to Officer Marshall's boss, Ralph Kessel?' Barba asks him. "Did he convince you to testify for the defense?"

Jodan keeps Barba's stare for a moment before sighing back "you don't get it. These people, they own your ass. They run the table. You want to stay out of prison, you do what they say." Jordan backs up comments made previously by Tommy.

"I need a recess, Your Honor." D'Angelo tries again.

Barba quickly retorts to him "I'm sure you do" in a low tone. "No more questions."

The judge calls for a recess and we all meet in the lobby of the courtroom "what was that?" Bella asks looking to her brother with concern.

He holds onto her shoulders "that was good, he showed the jury that Jordan's a junky."

"And he basically said the same thing Tommy did, that P.O's are in complete control and you do what they say." I add on, feeling confident we got her.

Barba walks out of the courtroom and darts his eyes to Olivia, gesturing for her to go with him. She excuses herself from us and we continue to go over Jordan's testimony with Bella and Tommy. We learn within the hour that Donna is going to make a plea deal and Olivia has us go back to the precinct.

That night, after Sonny stops by his sisters place, he comes over to mine for dinner. As we sit down to eat the dinner I made "so, everything is okay with Bella?" I ask, referring to her and the baby.

He takes a bite into his food and chews for a moment before answering "yea, her and Tommy are going to be alright."

"Good." I return back, taking a bite of my own food, knowing what to say next "and I wanted to thank you Sonny, for calling Spencer the other night." I smirk sarcastically towards him.

He sort of chokes up the glass of wine he was drinking "wh-what?" He asks, wiping at his chin.

My smile is wide "my dad came by last night, told me that Spencer told him my apartment was broken into. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how he learned about that."

He puts his napkin onto the table and sighs "I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I'm not. The BAU is investigating into this Doyle's escape and they should know if something like this happened to someone he threatened, they should know about it."

I shake my head, annoyed "no, Sonny. They don't need to know about it because it was nothing!"

"You don't know that!" He spits back "I'm worried about you Maddison, I looked into this guy, he's dangerous."

My eyes open wider "you don't think I know that? I watched him murder my mother!" I yell loudly, the memories flashing back.

"I'm-I'm sorry." He utters back lowly.

I push my plate away from me, throwing my own napkin onto the table "forget it Dominick, just go." I use his first name to emphasize how angry I am at him.

I can't even lift my eyes to meet his when he respond "Maddison, please."

"No, just go!" I yell again, standing to move away.

Sonny then respects my wishes and goes to leave the apartment "I'm sorry, I just-" he hesitates before finishing his sentence "I care about you and I can't just sit back and watch something bad happen to you." The door closes behind him and I stay staring a head of me, fuming with rage as the memories of my mothers death flood me.


	47. Chapter 47: Rape Culture

The next two weeks Sonny and I work together awkwardly through out different cases. I do my best to keep distance through interviews and calls, only having to do three ride alongs with just him and I.

When we get to work on Monday, Olivia has us all gather around and watch an airing from last night. Once it's almost over, Sonny turns it off and says "this is what you do with your Sundays off?"

Olivia responds "me and Gracie Mansion, apparently. And now, 1pp is pissed because they got caught flat-footed on national TV."

I answer her "america's Worst Crimes has a huge following. This is gonna go viral."

Sonny adds "yeah, I looked into it. The report says the attack happened in December, but NYPD's got no record of a complaint from the vic or Hudson U." He looks to all of us, making sure we're listening "she did say that Hudson University ignored her."

"And God knows we've been down that road before." Olivia adds on.

"I know that the tail wags the dog, but these TV shows are in it for the ratings." Amanda remarks "we don't know that any of this really even happened."

"Yeah, I'm all for overtime, but don't we have enough work to do?" Sonny asks our boss.

"Guys, this isn't LMZ. It is a legitimate national news magazine. They interviewed her. She disclosed. And I got a call from dodds, who got a call from the mayor. So we are going to investigate."

Rollins returns "we don't even know who this girl is."

Olivia starts to walk to her office "America's Worst Crimes does."

Finn calls after her "don't make me talk to reporters."

"No, Grey and Carisi are on it." She calls back.

As I feel him eye me, I keep my eyes on my own hands, cursing her for putting me on this with my partner. We make our way to the T.V. station and show our badges to get in. Once there, we find the lead reporter as he finishes up a pre-recorded filming "Detectives. I'm guessing you're here about the Hudson story." He asks us, already on the move.

"Yeah, well, you got everybody talking, including our bosses." Sonny answers him.

"Well, that's gratifying. And not just the Peabody buzz, but for AWC to be in a position to amplify what's going on behind those lvy walls." He responds to us, moving past people who move aside for him.

Sonny answers back "yeah, well, you amplify, we investigate."

I add on "so we're going to need to talk to Jane."

He stops where he was walking and looks at us "well, I'd love to help, especially with what that girl had to suffer through. But I can't give you her name."

"Your report says she was gang-raped. Now's not the time to hide behind the first amendment." I tell him.

He shakes his head a bit "I'm not falling on my journalistic sword. The only way Jane would talk was if I promised her anonymity. She's scared to death of those fraternity boys." Someone comes by and grabs a signature from him.

Sonny tells him "we can find a judge who will compel you to hand over your sources and raw footage."

"All right, look, I'll kick the footage request upstairs. That's not my call. As for Jane, I can put you in touch with the woman who shopped me the story." He offers "maybe she can convince Jane to talk to NYPD." We look at each other with a nod, putting our own issues aside to do our jobs. "Come on" he gestures for us to follow him.

He quickly sets up a meeting for us with the women who convinced Jane to come forward with her story "professor Dillon?" I ask as we approach the women, she nods and we show her our credentials "detectives Grey, and Detective Carisi. We're from SVU."

"How can I help?" She asks as if she doesn't know what we are there for.

"We just, um... We wanted to talk to you for a minute about the AWC segment last night." I utter out, playing the friendly, on everyone's side cop I think she needs to hear.

"Sure." She answers, continuing her walk down the college hallway "I thought it was important, what they did. I'm glad they started the dialogue."

"Hey, listen, we were hoping that you could get us in touch with— with Jane." I interrupt her from continuing "the reporter said you introduced them."

She stops and turns to us "I thought it was crucial her story be heard. But Jane already tried to disclose once, to the school. You heard how that turned out."

Sonny vocalizes "look, whatever happened between the victim-"

She speaks up "survivor."

He takes her lead "okay, the survivor and the university, that's got nothing to do with us."

She goes on "you have to understand, this woman is still extremely fragile. To subject her to harsh scrutiny, the legal system, her going from-"

Sonny interjects "all due respect, Professor, obviously we'd like to go through you, but if you're just gonna get in the way, we'll go over or around you."

She stands up a bit taller "interesting phallocentric choice of language, Detective."

I smile at her, grabbing Sonny's arm for a moment "my partner is still a work in progress." I let go, refocusing on the professor "listen, we all know that something terrible happened to Jane. We don't want these guys to get away with it."

"I hear you. I do. I just don't think that Jane wants to deal with any of this." She answers, moving away from us. "But I'll give her a call." She adds before she's completely far enough away from us to hear.

Later in the day I get a call from the professor as she tell's me Jane will not talk to us due to fear of retribution form the fraternity or the university.

After I hang up, I turn my attention to Sonny to let him know what I was told "that was Professor Dillon. Jane says she's not going to talk to us. That she'll come forward when and where she wants."

"What does that mean?" He asks quizzically.

"She's scared to make an official complaint." I speak back "and knowing what we know, I can't blame her."

I move to make myself a coffee "so that leaves us where?" He asks me, following behind me.

I pour myself a cup and explain "back at square one."

Just as I start to pour the milk into my cup he says "Dillon's no help. Hey, speaking of which, what was that crack about me still being a work in progress?"

I roll my eyes as I finish up "Oh, come on, Carisi." I use his last name, trying to get across I'm over the fight we had "the lady's a rape advocate. She's got a chip about male detectives. I figured I could earn her trust if I align myself with her."

"Hmm." He utters back "had nothing to do with the fight we had a few weeks back?" He pushes.

I look at him a bit shocked "no, come on." I spit "I wouldn't let that get in the way of work."

He thinks about it for a moment then adds "Right, well rape advocate, I don't even get what that is. I mean, there's no burglary advocate. There's no carjacking advocates."

I eye him "when's the last time a carjacking victim got asked, "are you sure you didn't want your car to get stolen?"

"Okay, I get that." He says back and I go to return to my desk. "Hmm. All right." He continues on "but still, she's just getting in our way."

I look over mt shoulder at him, filling him in "yeah, well, that's SVU. Get used to it." I take a seat to get back to research but notice when Sonny grabs his chair and goes to leave "where are you going?" I call to him.

"Back to campus" he informs me, starting to walk out "I don't want to tell the sarge we came up empty-handed." I decide to let him go, wanting to follow up on things on my own, away from him.


	48. Chapter 48: A Voice

Later that afternoon, we get the break we are looking for in the case. "Heather. Thank you so much for coming in." Olivia says to the young women, now knowing her identity.

Her advocate comments "I hope you realize this does not mean we're pressing charges."

"We?" I ask her, wondering why she used that pronoun.

Olivia jumps in "you know, Professor Dillon, we think it's probably best if we speak with Heather alone."

"Actually, Sergeant, could you and I talk?" The professor asks Olivia.

The two of them step aside and I usher Heather to the interview room. When Olivia and the profession return, I direct Heather to tell us what happened to her. She starts off "It was December 12th. I was on a date with an Alpha Zeta Pi hockey player." She looks to her friend who encourages her to continue. "Brian Mackey. He's the team captain And-" She pauses.

"and the date was at his frat?" Olivia asks.

"No, no. First we went to a bar, and then we went back to the house" she continues. "We were making out in the hallway when he pulled me into his room. Three guys were waiting. And they jumped me. Like a pack."

"And Brian led you in?" I ask, taking notes.

She nods "he was in charge. He had two guys hold my legs while he held my arms."

"And did you know the others?" Olivia questions.

She responds "His buddies from the hockey team. I-I'm not sure I want to tell you their names."

"Okay. Okay, well, we... we can get back to that. No problem. And you were sure that there were four men?" She asks, wanting to make sure all her facts are straight.

"Yes." Heather assures.

"Okay, because President Roberts told us that you only mentioned one." Olivia elaborates why she asked.

Professor Dillon says "President Roberts blamed Heather. She didn't feel safe disclosing to her."

"Well, you're safe here, Heather. Okay?" Olivia ensures "all right, so what happened next?"

Heather shakily continues "Um... Then they took turns raping me. Sodomizing me." She starts to hesitate, tears forming in her eyes. "Um, sorry."

"Go ahead." Professor Dillon comforts Heather. "We didn't talk about this part on TV." She informs us.

Heather says "they used an object. The handle of a hockey stick. And then— And they high-fived each other and they left me there. When I tried to pull myself together and leave, the other guys in the frat threw beer cans at me and they yelled at me to go to church. They said that I should call my dad and apologize for ruining his life. It was so horrible."

"Did you tell anyone? Did you tell your parents or your roommate?" Olivia asks.

She shakes her head, wiping at a tear "my parents still don't know."

"Why is that?" I ask.

"They're in the Central African Republic, fighting malaria."

I then ask "did you go to the doctor? Is there anyone to corroborate?"

She shakes her head and the professor speaks up "show them the text, Heather."

Heather moves in her chair to her purse, pulling out her phone. "Oh. Um... Brian sent me a text. His attempt at an apology." She pulls it up and pushes the phone towards us "here."

"Sorry about last night. My boys were out of control. But you deserve better than what they did." I read it out loud before giving it to Olivia.

She looks at it and tells Heather "this is great, Heather. So is there any other physical evidence? Like, maybe the clothes you were wearing? Anything like that?"

"Um, actually, one of the guys handed me my panties back before class that Monday, just to humiliate me." She informs us.

"And you kept them?" I nod hoping she still has them.

She nods back "I shoved them in my backpack, and then I threw them in my drawer when I got home. They might still be there."

"Okay, good. So if you decide to give us the other boys' names, that will be enough to get a DNA sample." She explains to Heather and Professor Dillon.

"It... it still won't be easy." The professor leans forward and grabs Heather's hand lightly.

Heather looks to her then back to us "No. It's okay. I want to. After the rally, all those other women need to know that they can do this too." She takes a moment to breathe then gives us the other men "The other names were Connor Howell, Lance Mosconi, and Zach Franklin. All on the hockey team."

"Thank you so much for coming forward." Olivia returns to her as I finish writing the names down. I walk the two of them out of the precinct, letting Benson work on calling Barba for the DNA warrant. I fill the rest of the team in on the interview and within the next hour, Olivia comes out with paper in hand "All hands on deck, I need you all to head over to the Frat house." She passes the paper over to Finn and we get going.


	49. Chapter 49: Video Proof

We arrive to the Frat house that's littered with people protesting outside. Signs in hand and tape over their mouths, they litter the sidewalk. "This is where it happened." Finn calls out to the police officers we've met on the scene. "Pick up all cell phones, laptops, bedding, and hockey sticks."

"NYPD." Sonny shouts out as we enter the home.

One of the boys comes over, smug grin on his face "glad to see you, Officers. You here about the brick coming through the window?"

"Nice try. IDs, now!" Sonny demands looking around "turn that music off."

Amanda informs them who we need as Finn and I start checking I'D's "all right, we're looking for Howell, Mackey, Mosconi, and Franklin."

"Yes, Sir!" One red headed boy comments throwing his hand up. I give him a snarky smile and he corrects himself "Ma'am."

One of the frat brothers steps up, passing his I.D. to Sonny "Guys, STFU. Come on. I'm Brian Mackey. This is Connor Howell," he points to the sarcastic boy in the hat "Lance Mosconi" he points at the red head "and Franklin's out of the country."

"Thank you. We have a warrant to search the premises, which means all of you stay put." I direct, returning an I.D and walking away from the bots.

As the officers start their search, I pull aside Lance to interview him and Sonny and Amanda interview Brian in the other room. "Had Brian been dating Heather for a while?" I ask him.

"Heather has wanted the business from Brian since rush week. He finally threw her a bone." He returns.

The lanky boy in the hat, Connor; tries to joke back "eight inches of it, brah."

Finn snarls back to him "how do you know? You watch?"

I continue asking questions to Lance "so, things we're all good between the two of them then?"

He nods "yah, they had sex and afterwards he came back down to the party."

I nod, as if it's all making sense "tell me about when she left?"

He goes to say something and I raise my eyebrows at him, letting him know to tell the truth about the beer cans. He sighs and admits "a girl leaves in the middle of the night, she does her walk of shame. She kind of had to run the gauntlet."

I nod, wanting him to give up more details "what are we talking about?"

He says "you call her a whore, you throw things. We didn't hurt her."

"What kind of things?" I push further.

He shrugs "beer cans, cups, trash yanno."

I spot Amanda look over her shoulder at me with a knowing nod and I give her one back in return "alright well, the warrant we have includes getting your DNA." I take a swab out of my pocket "go a head and open up." I grin at him.

He looks to his buddy who is behind me that Finn has already got DNA from and rolls his eyes, opening his mouth for me to swab.

We stick around, finishing collecting all the evidence we need and make our way back to the station. Once there, Finn and Amanda head to fill in Olivia and I go to return to my desk "So, is there something you wanna tell me?" Sonny comes over, putting the tips of his fingers on my desk.

"What are you talking about?" I ask him without looking up to him, pulling up my email.

He scoffs and says "about this BAU transfer thing. Come on Maddison, you can't really want to leave? It was a fight, we'll get over it." He pushes.

I pause before opening an email, shocked and annoyed he'd even heard about it and bring it up here at work. I stare up at him and respond "if you'd bother to ask over assume you'd learn it's not a transfer. They want me to consult on some cases while someone's on maternity and I'm thinking about doing it." I sit back in my chair a little "how did you even hear about that?"

"This ain't the white house, conversations are overheard all the time." He returns, his eyes looking a bit sad. "Maddison, can we please talk about this, talk about us?" He pleads.

I give him a stern glare and say "now is not really the place to do this, alright?" He knows then to not push me any further and sighs to move away from my desk. I click open my email from Taru a bit harshly and when I read the email I stop Sonny "hold up! Come here." I click play on the video now in my drive.

Sonny comes around to stand behind me "that's Heather at the Frat." I nod my head, unable to look away. "I'll get Sarge." He mutters before quickly walking away.

Olivia, Finn and Amanda also now gather at my desk to watch the video of Heather leaving the frat. She's clearly disheveled and horrified as the boys in the frat throw things at her, some still with liquid inside.

At the end of the video, the smug boy Connor turns the camera around on himself claiming "This has been another Connor Howell slut-shaming video."

When it's over, we look to our Sargent who says "this has got to be something. Email it to me, I'm heading to Barba." She calls at us as she's already basically out the door. I quickly type in her email and click send. The rest of the team return to their desks and I leave mine to grab a cup of coffee, wanting to get away from Sonny and his pushing glances at me.


End file.
